If the Crisis on Infinite Earths never happened
by Mr. Anonymous 2000
Summary: Or to be more precise what if the effects of the Crisis never happened? What would DC Comics be like if the editors had decided on soft reboots only, embracing its past instead of going on a policy of retcon after retcon? Where might DC heroes be today?
1. Introduction

_What if _Crisis on Infinite Earths_ never happened? _by Juan "Mr. Anonymous" Garcia

**Introduction**

_For a moment, he stirred and remembered.___

_He caught a glimpse of a great fortress__  
><em>_in the frozen wastelands of the north.__  
><em>_Of a lost paradise on a distant world.___

_He saw a time when he had no blood on his hands,__  
><em>_and never would.__  
><em>_When the violence of hatred and mistrust,__  
><em>_the temptation of moral compromise,__  
><em>_could no more overcome him__  
><em>_than a droplet of water could conquer the sun.___

_But then the memory slipped away__  
><em>_like the dream it was._

"Ode to a Dream" by Tor Kinlok, frontispiece to the_ Kingdom Come _novel

Hi everyone. I'm Mr. Anonymous and I'm here to write a DC Comics fanfic because I like DC Comics, I really do. I have always enjoyed its superheroes yet while the _idea_ of Superman and his fellow Justice League heroes appeal to me there are some stories in which that idea is not always well expressed. Such stories aren't told for the sake of malice, far from it; even the best comics' writer has the occasional bad day. After all, as Paul Levitz wrote in the introduction to _Huntress: Dark Knight Daughter_, he is fully aware that the stories he wrote in his earliest days—stories retold in _Huntress_, whose titular character he created—might not have been perfect, but he tried his best and for that, he hopes the reader can forgive him any failings. I know I do.

Nevertheless, that bad stories do occasionally happen is something that I will not dispute and so in the name of happy mental exercise, I will ask what if things had been a little different? What if in the past few decades, DC Comics had taken the path less traveled? We will in effect ask, "What if the _Crisis on Infinite Earths_ never happened?"

Written in 1985 to coincide with its fiftieth anniversary, _Crisis on Infinite Earths_ is the single biggest DC story of all times. Even now, decades later, its history is divided into pre-_Crisis_ and post-_Crisis_. The event not only removed the multiverse concept that had been central to DC Comics up until then, it also launched a tide of revisionism that led to character after character being rewritten. Such drastic changes left long time readers stunned to learn that not only did the characters they so loved no longer existed but had never existed. There was also no overall plan to coordinate things which lead to glaring contradictions. For example, in 1987 writer/artist George Perez reintroduced Wonder Woman as a brand new heroine at the same time her little sister Wonder Girl was "left on the books;" where then did Wonder Girl come from without Wonder Woman to be her big sister? The headaches lasted for years.

What if, then, _Crisis on Infinite Earths_ never happened? Now, I am not going to ask what if _Crisis_ never happened from an in-continuity perspective. I won't ask how pre-_Crisis_ Superman would fare against Doomsday. No, what I am asking is what if there had only ever been a natural progression and not an abrupt shift. What if DC had opted for soft reboots only and only allowed changes that could fit within established continuity? It could have happened. When Batman was rebooted in the wake of _Crisis_, writers took advantage of the event to remove certain events but the bulk of his pre-_Crisis_ adventures, though modified, remained intact.

I've decided to examine this idea in a metafictional context: it is 1986 and as the last issue of _Crisis on Infinite Earths_ is hitting the stands, various writers and artists meet to discuss the future of the DC Universe. Would this happen? Do DC's writers work like that; check in daily as if it were a nine-to-five job? Maybe not, but if not, let us suspend disbelief and imagine what could have been. Let us imagine if DC Comics had relaunched its superheroes without "the trend of sweeping aside the work done by those who came immediately before". What if there had been "an honest attempt to synthesize the best of all previous eras"? What if the "'cosmic reset' notion [had] been replaced by a policy of 'include and transcend' with regard to past continuity"?

This story is split into nine parts, this introduction, the prologue, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Justice League, DC Universe as a whole, the epilogue, and the conclusion. It borrows from a vast multiplicity of sources and my personal ideas of how pre-_Crisis_ elements could have been integrated into the post-_Crisis_ era from the beginning. I hope you like. ;)

**Author's Notes: This entire story was originally plotted out and this introduction written in mid to late 2010, well before DC decided to reboot its entire line with **_**Flashpoint**_** and the new 52. This total reboot stands in stark contrast to the patchwork of reboots that happened after 1985's **_**Crisis on Infinite Earths**_** where some things remained the same (Green Lantern) but other things were changed drastically (Wonder Woman). Therefore, the entire purpose of this metafiction is itself "retconned" as it was supposed to ask what a softly retconned DC universe might have been like and **_**Flashpoint**_** and the 52, instead of modifying that Universe, completely ignore said Universe that I ask would have been like if it had been softly retconned.**

**In fact, it is worth noting that the post-**_**Crisis**_** DC Universe was retconned to a degree with 2005's **_**Infinite Crisis**_** which undid much of **_**The Crisis on Infinite Earths**_** by restoring various pre-**_**Crisis**_** events to continuity to create a world not unlike the world I imagine in my story… before, of course, **_**Flashpoint**_** and the 52 did away with everything. **

**From **_**Crisis on Infinite Earths**_**, to **_**Infinite Crisis**_**, to **_**Flashpoint ,**_** to the new 52 (and with **_**Zero Hour**_** in between)… the retcon of a retcon of a retcon.**

**But hey, that's DC for you! ^_^**


	2. Prologue

**Disclaimer: All characters herein are property of DC Entertainment. From creating superheroes, to creating the first hero team, to beginning the Golden Age and starting the Silver Age, going from one adventure, DC's seen it all. Long live the king.**

**Prologue: DC Comics Presents…**

**Place: New York City subway**

**Year: 1986**

The man was still reading the comic book.

Not that it was any of Tim's business but the bald man across the aisle had been reading from his stack of "comics" for the last half hour they had been on the subway. What was it that he was reading? …_Justice League_? The cover showed Superman, Batman, Wonder… what was the name of the Linda Carter character? Yes, Wonder Woman! Who else was there? Tim saw a running man dressed in red, a green man with a blue cape, someone with some kind of green ring, and a guy with an orange shirt. They were all fighting a… giant starfish?

A starfish!? Tim didn't get it; why was a grown man still reading the funnies? Maybe the suit and tie explained things; office drudgery could make anyone snap. Maybe it wasn't that surprising after all with the murder of Howard Giffit over in Queens earlier that year. Not to mention that with President Reagan's saber rattling and all but daring the Russians to throw the first punch with that tear down that wall speech, escapism—

"You're staring."

Tim sat bolt upright on hearing that. With a nervous look on his face, he slowly looked up from the cover and turned to the comic reader. The man also looked up from his Justice League book and a knowing smile came across his face. "You're staring."

Tim fidgeted in his seat. "Well, I'm sorry… I didn't mean to Mr., uh…"

"The name's Julie Schwartz." He stretched out and shook the young man's hand.

The young man nodded and let himself relax. "Hello Mr. Schwartz. My name is Tim."

"Nice to meet you Tim." Julius looked at the comic book he held in his hand. "You wondering someone like me is reading these things?"

A nervous look spread across the young man's face and he touched his hand to the back of his neck. "Well…"

Laughter. "I'm reading it because it's my job!"

"It is?! You mean that you work in comics? You're a writer or something?"

Schwartz smiled. "Editor actually, Gardner Fox wrote it. It was _Brave and the Bold_ #28, 1960 and the first introduction of the Justice League. Oh, but those were good days. Fox and I had worked on the Justice Society, an earlier hero team, but when I had the chance to bring it back, I renamed it."

Tim replied, "I think League has more of a punch than Society."

"I do to." He sighed and slumped in his seat, leaving the comic book at his side. "The JSA was back in the forties, _the 1940s_… and before then…" Looking into the distance, Schwartz wistfully said, "Seems that just a few days ago, I was some kid making science fiction fan magazines. It's hard to believe I'm that old."

If the man was sad, he didn't let it consume him and a smile quickly pierced his gloom. "Ah what am I saying, I should let the story speak for itself." Tim saw him pull out another comic book from his briefcase. It was a Superman comic… starring Julius Schwartz?! The fourth wall breaker smiled. "What are you waiting for, go on and read it!"

Wondering if he had stepped into an episode of _Twilight Zone_, Tim cautiously opened it. He then stopped to check everything was still there; everything was still there. Still worried, though, he read slowly and carefully. It was _Superman_ #411—had Superman really been around that long? The story was called, "The Last Earth-Prime Story" and it was written by someone named Elliot S! Maggin. (No, really, the "s" was followed by an exclamation mark.) It opened the way you'd expect a Superman comic book to start. The hero flying about and people saying "Look up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Its—" but when they were about to say "It's Superman!" a disheveled old man growled, "Go suck on a banana peel!" ….it was a man that looked like… Julius Schwartz…

Tim went on reading and this "other" Schwartz was seen to be a washed up drunk that wanders in and out of soup kitchens and gets his daily bread from pan handling. It eventually gets so bad that he tries to commit suicide by jumping from a skyscraper but is saved by Superman. The stunt gets Schwartz on the news and is spotted by Perry White, editor of the _Daily Planet_ and his old friend. Superman and the newspaper editor go looking for the old man, all the while White telling the Last Son of Krypton about him. As a young man in the 1930s and 40s, Schwartz served as an agent for early science fiction writers, L. Sprague de Camp, Ray Bradbury, and Alfred Bester. He even sold Bradbury's first story. He and White became editors bringing stories to life and printing them when nobody else would.

Schwartz eventually decided to create his own comic book characters but every time he did, a real superhero would show up and steal his creation's thunder. Shortly after he created Ultra Man, a strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, Superman appeared. Refusing to give up, he created a dark knight detective called Night Wizard… and then Batman debuted. He went on to create an amazing amazon dubbed Madame Miracle… only to have Wonder Woman take her place. It's like he was cursed or something.

Superman (the "real" one) eventually finds Schwartz but is too late. As the comic book writer lies dying, he tells Superman that he had a vision and asks to be taken to Earth-Prime, a world where the Last Son of Krypton is known only as so much ink on paper. Having been there before, the hero complies with the request. Superman and the dying Schwartz go straight to the offices of DC Comics, the company that makes comic books, and meet a Julius Schwartz who had realized his dreams and had made something of his life. The writers and artists at DC Comics are shocked to see that Superman is real… all except this other Schwartz who always knew it was so, deep down inside. The dying Schwartz merges with his counterpart, knowing that at least here it was not for nothing.

And yet there is more than that. Many times had Superman and the other heroes explored worlds other than that of Earth-Prime—with comic books published by DC comics that referred to heroes from other dimensions as fictitious being the only constant—but that the time of infinite Earths was ending. Worlds would indeed live, worlds would indeed die, and the universe would never be the same again. But even if all this happened, even if it did all end, even if everyone else did die, Julie Schwartz would still be there and he would still remember.

Tim put the comic down, unable to say anything but, "…whoa." He looked at Schwartz, the real one, and then he looked back at the comic book. "Whoa."

The comic book editor smiled. "It is an interesting story, isn't it? And believe me I was as surprised as you were! It was supposed to be a Superman versus Lex Luthor but Elliot S! Maggin, the writer, decided to sneak it past me. He wasn't alone, though; his co-writer Cary Bates, our chief Superman artist Curt Swan, and our boss Jenette Kahn were all part of the conspiracy. So when I was given the new issue… I nearly had a heart attack! I was especially touched by how they put my statue next to Mort."

Tim raised an eyebrow. He picked the comic book back up and saw Clark Kent placing his jacket on a bust the mild mannered reporter called Mort, and yes at the end of the issue there was placed next to that bust of Julie Schwartz. With his eyebrow still raised, Tim turned to the comic book editor. "Who's Mort?"

"He was a Superman editor for nearly thirty years, 1941 to 1970. He was also the sole editor of all the comics for the last fifteen. Y'might say that he and not Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster was Superman's real creator because all the things that people associate with big magilla happened on his watch and for the most part from plots he gave the writers."A sour look spread across the editor's face. "Well, plots he forced on the writers might be more accurate. But, toad though he was—" Schwartz rolled his eyes and shook his head. "—and YES he was a toad, he…" the editor stopped to catch his breath. "… he was still my friend."

"I actually did get my start as an agent for sci-fi writers back in the 1930s but Perry White wasn't my partner, it was Mort Weisinger. I worked alongside him with all the other DC comics and in time I even worked on all the DC heroes. All through the fifties and sixties, I worked on Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash Green Lantern, Hawkman, Justice League, all of them. I never worked on the big man, though; that was Mort's job.

"… but Mort said that if anything ever happened to him that it was me that was going to have to take over Superman… and I did. I've been working on Superman for the last fifteen years and I like to think that I saved my best work at DC for last. I just turned in my final two books for DC, _Superman_ #423 and _Action Comics _#583; , and I even had them tell the 'last' Superman story. Come to think about it, it really might be the last Superman story with how the DCU is made is dying… The DC Universe is dying and it's all Flash's fault."

Tim asked, "Wait, that's what the story is talking about, isn't it? That the time of infinite Earths is ending?" He saw Schwartz nod. "Flash… he's the red guy that runs really fast, right?" Again, a nod. "How is the 'DC universe' dying and how's it his fault?"

The grand old man of DC Comics seemed to age ten years with that. "See, his real name is Barry Alan. When Gardner Fox and I first introduced him in 1956 there had been no new superheroes at DC Comics for years and we weren't sure if it would work. We tried him out in our anthology title, _Showcase_… and superheroes became our equivalent of printing money!

"But looking back, the sad thing is that the seeds of destruction were sown in that very first Flash story… See, we said that Flash became a hero because he had grown up reading the exploits of a comic book superhero and on the last page of his first story, that hero is… the Flash! If we had all just left well enough alone, if we had left as just an in-joke then the rest might never have happened.

"See, there had been an earlier Flash called Jay Garrick and Fox had also written his stories. After that, Fox and I decided on a 1961 story called 'The Flash of Two Worlds' where the Barry Alan Flash vibrates so fast that crosses dimensions—" Tim burst out laughing and Schwartz just rolled his eyes and smiled. "Please Tim, bear with me. As I was saying, Barry Alan crossed dimensions and found himself in a world where the Jay Garrick Flash was real. Barry was overjoyed to meet his childhood idol and they got along very well. Barry surmised that Gardner Fox, the man who wrote the early Flash stories had a psychic link to this world and from Alan's remark Garrick realized that the day he retired was the day Fox stopped writing. After saving the proverbial day, the two Flashes said good day to each other and went to their respective ways… except for Garrick who decided to come out of retirement.

"Of course, this logically means that all of DC's other golden age heroes would also live on this, 'Earth-Two'." A Cheshire Cat in a business suit smiled. "There's the Jay Garrick Flash so why not everyone else? And indeed, in one Flash story, the Barry Alan Flash did meet the JSA and to top it off, his Justice League friends went on to go and meet their Justice Society counterparts. Those stories sold like hotcakes, older fans overjoyed to see their childhood heroes and younger ones who had never even heard of a JSA thrilled by the idea of these 'new' characters. The JLA/JSA team ups were always popular and part of it was the whole idea of there being a whole other world just over the horizon…"

Tim smiled from ear to ear. "Wow! That sounds incredible!"

"I assure you it was but there's a saying, familiarity breeds contempt," Schwartz knowingly said. "At first, we'd just introduce different members of the JSA but as that passed we started introducing whole other groups of heroes from whole different Earths into the mix, like Captain Marvel from Earth-S or Uncle Sam from Earth-X, or Blue Beetle from Earth-Charlton. Purchase the rights to someone else's heroes—Fawcett, Quality, Charlton—and introduce them as being fro yet _another_ Earth…" The editor began laughing. "Good God, if I had only known what we were getting ourselves into!"

"It gets crazier?" asked Tim.

"A LOT crazier. See, as we eased away from plot and into characterization, we decided to take advantage of the multiple dimensions concept. We set a regular series, not a one shot or a crossover but a regular series, in Earth-Two: _All Star Squadron_. There and elsewhere, we told tales of the JSA and we saw the Golden Age/Earth-Two Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. We saw them there and in the regular stories of their modern counterparts!"

"Wait, wait…" said the confused young man. "Are you telling me that DC has two Supermen, two Wonder Women, two Batmen?"

Schwartz nodded his aching head. "Yes and now you're starting to understand our problem. The fact that there was an alternate series of characters meant that there was the chance to do stories that we normally could never tell. We, for example, saw the Earth-Two Superman marry his Lois and the Earth-Two Batman have a daughter by his Catwoman. Her name is the Huntress and she's a superhero like her father. The same for Earth-Two Wonder Woman whose daughter by Steve Trevor created a team called Infinity Inc. made up of all the children of the Justice Society heroes. Now all this was old hat to the long term DC fans that grew up with all this but it was definitely daunting to casual fans. What I'd originally created as a nice joke had grown out of control and so they decided to get rid of everything… by blowing up the multiverse!"

Tim was shocked. "They what?! All you did for them and they're destroying everything you ever worked for…"

"Yes. The idea was that there would be a villain out to destroy everything and all the heroes would unite against him. The villain's name is the Anti-Monitor by the way. The heroes did ultimately beat him but not before the universe was changed so that there had only ever been one Earth. Curiously, the Anti-Monitor takes Flash prisoner early on and while the speedster does escape he winds up dying trying to save the day. So yes," the editor sadistically chuckled, "Flash started the infinite Earths mess and he pays for it!

"For all the good it does anyone," he sighed. "The whole story is called _Crisis on Infinite Earths_ and the last issue is hitting newsstands right now. It's all over now; they're taking all my earths away from me… But I won't let them," he grimly said.

"How Mr. Schwartz?"

"Please, it's Julie." He cleaned his glasses and sighed. "Look, I'm not a fool. I am aware that the universe I helped to create is being destroyed and for all intents and purposes is dead. If so, then there is only one thing left for me to do." He grew thoughtful and chose his words carefully. They might well be the most important words of his life.

"I have been in this business for over forty years, more than half my life. It was a grand adventure," he said wistfully, "a _grand_ adventure. But after all this time, I'm burned out… I'm tired and I have nothing left to give…" With that, the frown that had spread across his face turned into a smile. "…except the chance that the next forty years will be just wonderful."

A puzzled look came across Tim's face; Schwartz must have seen it because he began explaining. "See, I'm on my way to a meeting with all the other writers and editors for DC Comics to redefine our company and our superheroes. This might be one of the most important things I'll do for DC and it will be the last. Like I said, I retired with my last two issues of _Superman_ #423 and _Action Comics _#583; they told what was supposed to be the last Superman story and unless I go and talk some sense to the writers and other editors it really will be the last Superman story.

"BE ORIGINAL!" Tim jumped at Schwartz' shout. "That's what they call me, B.O., Be Original Schwartz. New ideas, new stories. Don't ever be afraid to change things… but at the same time, don't distort them to the point where they become different entities. It would be a betrayal of our characters and of our fans who stuck with DC. Imagine waking up and seeing your best friend replaced with some total stranger. No, we will make a new DC Universe that combines the best of the old with the best of the new."

With that, the two men felt the train slow down. Schwartz looked and saw that the subway train had reached the reached his stop. He smiled. "Individual initiative and adaptation, remember that Tim. If they blow up one set of infinite Earths, go make another one! I gotta get going Tim. I've got to save the universe!"

As Tim saw Julie Schwartz get up and walk out of the subway doors, he could only say one thing. "Wow."

**Author's Notes: In that Schwartz' last Superman issues were published some time after **_**Crisis**_** was finished, I freely admit to some chronological inconsistencies but I do hope that I will be allowed artistic license! Until the next update everyone! ;)**


	3. Ch 1: Last Son of Krypton

**For Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster who, through their super-man, taught us all to be heroes.**

**Chapter One: Last Son of Krypton**

**Place: Offices of DC Comics, New York City**

**Year: 1986**

Julius Schwartz pounded his hand on the boardroom table and growled. "No more dilly dallying. We're all here and I say it's time to do this!"

One of the newer writers coughed and looked out the window at the old man's manner. Most others just aside their leftover lunches to reach for folders and review their drawings. Schwartz saw this and nodded his approval. "As we all know, in order to mark our fiftieth anniversary and in order to revitalize our characters we embarked on _Crisis_. We have it in our power to recreate our DC universe and reimagine our heroes and the hero that we perhaps should most be interested in this respect is Superman.

"He after all is the first and greatest superhero of them all; he is our flagship character and an American icon. As editor of the Superman books, I, sadly, have seen sales on the books begin to lag and that's just not right. I remember when I first came on board that Superman was DC's biggest seller and he had the lead role in six books such as _Superman_, _Action Comics_, _Superman's Pal Jimmy Olson_, _Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane_, _Superboy_, and _Adventure Comics_. And that's not including other appearances in _Justice League_ and _World's Finest_. Back in the Silver Age, every DC comic had a Superman logo on it because just being in the same universe—the same multiverse, really—as Superman was enough to give you credit.

"Nowadays, he is being outsold by kid sidekicks. _Teen Titans_ is outselling Superman. Nobody has the right to outsell Superman. I love that man and it's somehow appropriate that the last two comics I edited for DC, after having worked on everything else, told the last Superman story. The cover had him flying away forever with all his friends on the Daily Planet building saying goodbye. We saw Lois, Jimmy, Perry, Supergirl, Batman, the Justice League, the Legion of Superheroes… and me, all saying goodbye. The tears in Superman's eyes are my tears.

"But if the Superman and the DCU I helped to create must die, then it need not die without an heir. And it WILL have an heir thanks to Elliot S. Magoon and Cary Bakes." The grand old man of DC comics sat down. "If you two will be so kind as to take the lead?"

The "Bakes" and "Magoon" looked at each other warily before turning to the audience. Maggin said, "Well I never made it a secret when I was working for Schwartz that I wanted to have his job someday and now here I am as Superman editor. My first order of the day is to make Bates my chief writer because the upcoming reboot is his idea and unlike other folks like Marv Wolfman or Frank Miller or John Byrne, his ideas, our ideas, were always meant to work within continuity. That's what Bryne never got; I reviewed his ideas before they were rejected for being too radical. Marvelize Superman by saddling him with postmodernist angst, by making him just another superhero instead of the champion, by getting rid of his powers, by making him and Batman enemies. To this I say, no, no and no.

"Bryne's approach was simply to reduce Superman's powers and see if he could deal better with him that way. That simply doesn't work. The point of Superman is that he's virtually omnipotent and has mishigass anyway. That's what guys like Bryne don't understand about the character, as it happens. His conflict should never be about whether or not he has the power it should be whether or not he has the moral right to even use the power. It should be over dilemmas.

"This is Superman. He has to think differently from us, and when we see into his head, we should be shocked by the clarity and simplicity of his brilliance and compassion. We should also see Superman as the ultimate communicator. Think about it, if he really is Superman, if he really is invulnerable, then he'd need none of the physical defensive postures we take for granted. If he knows he's invulnerable then he can afford to be incredibly relaxed and open—the big smile, the instant handshake, the conviction that everyone he meets is to be regarded as a friend until he proves otherwise.

"He's the man who will take time out from stopping Mongul's plan to crash Alpha Centauri into our solar system just to dry a child's tears. He should be indefatigable and trustworthy. His curiosity and kindness are childlike in their purity but he should also be frighteningly quick and clever. The combination of contradictory qualities adds to his slightly removed air. The eyes go vague when he looks at your electrical field for a second and gets the idea for an oscillating defensive force field based on the rhythms of your pulse rate. Sometimes he seems not all here, but it's only because he's much more here than we can sensibly hope to be.

"He's there to lift us up and we shouldn't bring him down just so we can 'relate' to him. No, he fights on the side of right, confident that he'll win just because he's on the side of right… and _winning_ just because he, in fact, actually is on the side of right. In his heart of hearts, he's not there because he feels guilty or because a sense of duty he fight for truth, justice, and the American way for no other reason than that doing otherwise would simply never occur to him. He's Superman, let him the beacon. Let him be the world's greatest super hero, a forward-looking, intelligent, enthusiastic hero retooled to address the challenges of the next thousand years. The ultimate American icon revitalized for the new millennium as an inspirational figure, a role model for 20th Century global humanity.

"Superman's character is one we all feel we know intimately and to that end, we'd like to balance out his battles with Brainiac and Luthor with stories which thoroughly explore those values, stories allowing him to return to his roots as a champion of the weak and oppressed. Even more so than for Batman, Green Lantern, Flash—all his peers and contemporaries—Superman's job is to fight for and inspire those who cannot fight for themselves. His job is to make this world a better place but perhaps more importantly to show us that yes, he is a superman but that if we just do good to each other, then every man can be a superman.

"This is a god sent to Earth to live and inspire and change the face of the galaxy by his deeds and reputation. He is Roland, he is Galahad, he is Lancelot without the stain. He is an angel come down from Heaven to heal broken world and who earnestly believes that doing what's right is its own rewards. He should be a huge powerful almost Christ-like force for good in the DC Universe. I admit it's strange that I as a Jew should say this but growing up with the Rabbi telling us about King Messiah and what he should be, perhaps it's not so strange.

"And so to that end, _Superman: The Movie_ had its ups and downs but one very excellent thing is having the ghost of Jor-El say that the reason he gave us his only son was to save us. Superman came from a better world, with a greater capacity for good and he came because 'they can be a great Kal-El, they wish to be. They only need the light to show them the way and it is for that reason, for their capacity for good that I give them my only son, for that reason, I give them… you.'

"As to the new direction let us start at the beginning."

Cary Bates smiled. He looked down at his papers and shuffled them and looked at Maggin and smiled some more. He had been more than a Superman fan as a child; he even went so far as to pray to God that He grant him superpowers. Well, even if he couldn't fly, this was the next best thing.

"Well, it comes down to little old me, eh? I suppose if you want to hear my Superman ideas that it would be rude of me to stay silent. Going chronologically, we should start at the beginning and that means Krypton. In recent years, it has been criticized as being stuck in a time warp, as being so much Buck Rodgers. Now when you think about that it makes perfect sense as Siegel and Shuster first sold Superman in 1938. Of course they ideas of space and of other planets would look like Buck Rodgers. The problem is that it stayed that way instead of changing.

"Whether or not Krypton receives a visual redesign is for the artists. Maybe it should be. Byrne said that if he'd designed his Krypton on the movies if he could have. Therein lies the rub; he wanted to create a Krypton that deserved to blow up. He wanted a dead, frozen world so horrible that Superman would have embraced Earth that much more just to reject Krypton. There is some truth to that; early scripts for the movie said that the reason that Jor-El sent his son to earth of all places was that they knew of something called love. Even Maggin here had Jor-El think that Earth had something Krypton didn't in his Superman novels.

"Byrne didn't get it; purity does not mean coldness. I'm not going to throw out the world that previous writers and editors like Julie and Mort Weisinger created. Modified and revitalized, maybe, but not thrown out. The Jewel Mountains, the Gold Volcano, the Scarlet Jungle, and similar things should remain, keep as much of it as we can. Beyond that I have no problem with Krypton being redesigned as being alien and other is long as we can imagine that Superman could have called it home.

"If Jor-El's look is changed so that he doesn't wear a headband or have a sunburst on his chest, then the mark on his chest should be the crest of the house of El. The shield is holy; as it is the symbol of Superman and everything he stands for so it should be more than just a letter S. What it means it Kryptonese, I don't know; perhaps it stands for hope with how Superman stands for being good and trying to make a better world and all that good stuff. I don't know and I'll leave it for a later writer to tell the story. Bryne's sketches for Kryptonian clothes look interesting."

Bates handed out drawings of Lara and Jor-El that imagined them wearing black bodysuits, bodystockings actually that covered them entirely except for their faces and fingers. Over the suits, robes were worn—green for Jor-El and purple for Lara—and on the head of Superman's mother, a gold headpiece. Len Wein in particular looked impressed. "Very nice. If you do incorporate the shield, where will it go?"

"I'm not sure, probably on a clasp though as I said, that's a job for the artist. I'll leave it to them."

Bates reached for his notes to see the next part of the agenda. "Moving on from that, we get to a question. Why is it that when Krypton exploded, there were no survivors? If it were our planet that was destroyed it would be understandable as we have no interstellar space travel or off planet colonies. But if Krypton was so advanced, why were there no Kryptonians off planet? Were they not a space faring race? It was said that Krypton had abandoned its space travel but need it be that?

"To answer that, let us remember Braniac. We should keep Brainiac's capture of Kandor the capital with how removing it lessens a major villain and gets rid of a major part of history. We could even say that General Zod used the chaos from that in an attempt take over Krypton. The movie made General Zod one of Superman's great villains in the mind of most people and we have the chance to make him ours. The post-Kandor Krypton was bereft of a capital and in chaos; Zod quickly rallied support with his demagoguery and even built a new capital called Krytonopolis. He built it using Jor-El's crystal growth technology and it was in the new capital that Kal was born. However, Jor-El worked unwillingly with Zod and ultimately trapped him in the Phantom Zone.

"I should like to say that there was a Kryptonopolis previously and it was here that Kal was born but that just raises the question why was it not the capital? Yes in the old comics it became the capital after the theft of Kandor but that's beside the point. Here we explain it and show the feud between Zod and the son of Jor-El.

"Jor-El only worked for Zod because Zod held the pregnant Lara hostage. But, stained by the association, the Kryptonian council wouldn't believe him when they said that Krypton would explode. We all know what happened next. As for other Kryptonians, let's say that they had been off planet when it exploded. The news spread across the news channels of the galaxy: a Kryptonian student on Thanagar, a Kryptonian merchant on Tamaran all hear this and mourn. This shouldn't be said right away as it would lessen the impact when Krypton explodes.

"Soon enough little Kal arrives on Earth where he is found and adopted by the Kents who are just driving by. Maggin and I will probably get rid of the idea of Clark being left on the doorstep of Smallville orphanage and then coming back to adopt him, too complicated. We'll say that he's a kid of deceased distant relatives or something. Now in the Silver Age, Superman's Kryptonian heritage was so emphasized that the Kents were pushed aside; that has begun to change in recent years with writers saying that his foster parents instilled in him moral values. Silver Age Superboy stories and especially Maggin's novels have the Kents as the nicest, most honest and trusting couple in town, a pair of gentle and innocent souls wherein the husband knows all the ministers and the wife bakes the finest pies. I say we keep going in that direction.

"Thus in our retelling we see a small Kansas farming town where Main Street is the only named street, where the biggest event is the annual county fair, where nobody has to lock their doors at night, where you can indeed raise a family and it's Jonathon Kent's home. Looking back we'll see him as a young all-American boy who married his girlfriend Martha Clark right out of high school and each was the only person that the other ever loved. Alas, this romance would have to wait because when WWII came, Jonathon left his new bride to serve in the Army as was his patriotic duty. He returned and they started their life together.

"For years they were happy but there was one thing they lacked in order to complete their happiness… a child. They feel incomplete and they mourn because they can't have children. At one point we see Ma, thinking God might be punishing her with barrenness, kneeling in church praying for a son. It is when she and pa drive home from church that they find the rocket. It crashes, they stop and inside they find a baby wrapped in blue and red. Not knowing what else to do, they take the child with them but when the child exhibits his strength, they know what they must do.

"They are driving along, asking themselves if they should take the child to an orphanage or not; after all, what was Uncle Sam thinking, putting a baby in a rocket? That all changes when, in imitation, of the movie, the tire blows, Pa goes to fix it, and when the jack snaps, the baby catches the truck and keeps it from crushing Pa. Partly because they want their own son and partly because they're afraid that the feds will put him in a lab and partly because of the responsibility thrust upon them, they take in the child. They remember the story of God giving Samson's parents—themselves a childless couple—a child but on the condition that they raise him to be a champion. Ma and Pa realize the responsibility they have in raising their child and they train him to one day be the world's greatest hero.

"In one of Maggin's novels _Superman: Last Son of Krypton_, he imagines the Kents on seeing the power their son wields purposefully raise him to be earth's greatest hero. Ma has him read the Bible and plenty of Horatio Alger to form his moral character. Pa trains him in the use of his power. They never bother to ask Clark or even each other about this; they just take it for granted that this is what they have to do. A cynic might say that they planning out their son's life but I say that the thought of raising their son to be anything but a hero simply never occurred to them.

"One very interesting tidbit from Maggin's novels has Superman/Superboy with the power of 'soul vision' for the lack of a better word. In _Superman: Miracle Monday_, Pa saw how strong his son was and was increasingly terrified that investing an eight-year old with the power of the gods was a cause for disaster. Imagine that episode of the _Twilight Zone_ where a kid uses his reality warping powers to hold all the people in town as his hostages and force them to say over and over that everything he does is good. In fact, Pa Kent has a similar dream wherein his son takes over the world.

"However, the next day when Pa is called to school everything changes. Clark is sobbing uncontrollably and he explains to Pa what happened. Clark saw a dog get run over by the school bus and because of his soul vision he could literally see the dog die. He saw the life force flowing from the dog until it was emptied husk. He can see life itself and feels the pain of every living thing. Pa realizes that he need never fear his son and it was that night that Clark swore an oath never to kill and that failing that oath would renounce his power forever. On the next day, Clark made his debut as Superboy with his father's blessing.

"To this we go into Superboy. We should keep him. Firstly because it would cause too many continuity headaches with how Superboy, in effect, created the Legion of Superheroes and secondly, having our man be Superboy as a teen cements his position as the leader of all other heroes. When 16 year old Barry Alan was trying to get dates in high school; Clark Kent had already been saving the world for eight years straight. Having preceded all other heroes of his generation by about thirteen years automatically grants him the respect that he deserves. If you've noticed, you'll see that I said first hero of his generation.

"Now, up until now, Superman has always been portrayed as the world's first hero. Every story that ever bothered to comment on the subject said the same thing. He'd debuted as Superboy and was alone for over ten years until Batman and the others came along. There were a few exceptions to this such as the Earth-One Wild Cat who debuted in the 1940s and the Shadow whose likeness was licensed to us; both were shown to have been instrumental in the formation of Batman. Another key exception was the Legion of Superheroes; they were in fact created by Mort Weisinger as part of his universe within a universe approach to Superman and DC comics. They would visit the Teen of Steel and go on adventures and sometimes they would take him to their time.

"And that was the point. They would visit… and then they would leave. If you take an in-depth look at Superboy comics you'll see that he lives in a world without super people. To be sure, so-and-so-man might get powers, but he would usually lose them by the end of the story thus restoring the status quo of a world wherein, with the exception of Aquaboy, the Teen of Steel is the only superhero. Yes, there did exist WWII's Justice Society, but they were set in an alternate universe and they had their own Superman so even there Superman was still the first hero. In the post-Crisis DC Universe, things are going to be very different because with Earth-Two and its Justice Society merged into Earth-One and with Earth-Two Superman gone, Superman can no longer be the first hero."

On having said that, Cary Bates grinned from ear to ear. "But why let that get in the way."

He passed out drawings of Superboy standing with the Justice Society. He noticed the looks on the writers and artists' faces as it all began to dawn on them. "Since Superman in post-Crisis continuity can't be the first superhero," said Bates, "we'd like to maintain his prominence by that he was at least trained by the first superheroes. We see Doctor Fate, near the end of his group's life, telling the JSA that their work is all but over. He tells his friends that the first age of heroes was but the prelude because soon, the greatest hero of all will arrive from the stars and it will it will be the task of the entire JSA to find him. This little addition to the past gives Superman a new grandeur, a fresh religious dimension, and ties him more directly into the development of superheroics in the DCU. It also seems mythically right that Superman, if he is a Christ symbol, should, at some point before he dons the cape, meet his predecessors, his John the Baptists, who have awaited his coming and now have a few lessons for the fledgling hero.

"Here is something to consider. It is 1985 right now and if Superman really is 29 like we always say he is then he was born in 1956. (Though we could say he was born in 1938 and that due to his escape rocket's warpgate he only arrived in 1956.) Also, if Pa was twenty in 1956, then he was born in 1936. He was old enough to remember the first age of heroes. It's worth saying that most versions portray Pa as being significantly older than 20 when he finds his adopted son. He might be as old as the JSAers. Maybe he was a fan of the JSA in his youth and hoped to create in his son the heir to the JSA.

"Thus when the old heroes come offering to train him he heartily agrees. Pa watches with joy as Clark eagerly learns flight skills from Hawkman and martial arts from Wildcat. Of course, who else but the Jay Garrick Flash could teach the future Superman how to use his speed? Dr. Fate teaches Superboy about magic and that he's weak against it. Dr. Midnite teaches him first aide, how to treat injuries and diagnose him; a must with all the lives Superman saves. And so on.

"Also, considering how the JSA was disbanded in the fifties, this adds a new dimension, a new wrinkle. When they were first reintroduced in the issues of Flash starting with the Jay Garrick Flash, it was said that they had simply retired. Of course, Gardner Fox who wrote the JSA and the Jay Garrick Flash stories brought them all back for the Justice League story where the JLA and the JSA meet. There we see Fox reassuring readers that their hairs are only slightly grayed and that their powers only slightly dimmed. The JSAers are in their base remembering the good old days when they get tapped by the JSA for a case. It was ultimately revealed that the reason the JSA retired was that a paranoid US government asked the heroes to reveal their secret identities. The JSA heroes, of course, refused.

"We can use that and, through Superboy see the development of superheroes in the DCU. Let's say that in a climate of suspicion and paranoia, the government turned against the JSA and by extension all superheroes, all superhumans. (Though with you know who removed from the picture, we'll call them something else, Mystery Men perhaps.) Previously, the general public was still said to have believed in them but now without the Earth-Two Superman, this never happened. Without that greatest hero, the general public turned against the vigilantes and freaks; it was race hate against super people with signs like no supers allowed or the lynching of anybody with powers. This is worth noting because people kept getting superpowers but they stayed out of the public eye to avoid discrimination. And God forbid that you touch spandex! It gets that bad we are going to see super people having to register with the government."

Having worked over at Marvel, Len Wein raised an eyebrow. "Cary, are you going to turn the DCU into the X-Men?"

Bates sheepishly smiled and scratched the back of his neck. "Well, ha-ha! I… uh, was thinking about a few Chris Claremont stories… but the point is…" He cleared his throat. "The point is that it doesn't stay that way when an eight year old Superboy comes with a costume and powers and saying he's just here to help. His home base is in Smallville and whether it's helping cats from trees or helping people to paint their fences, he really is just there to help. People ask his real name but he's not sure he can give it to them; he's afraid that the bad guys might get his mommy and daddy. The feds see this and they are reluctant to take a stand against a child, especially such a sweet child. With Superboy saving the day and helping people, folks gradually start to lose their suspicion of super people. It takes a while though—thirteen years—before folks learn to trust super people again. Nevertheless, it's thanks to Superman's constant example that, powers aside, superhumans are just regular people, most of whom just want to do the right thing, that there could be a superhero renaissance and that, unlike the Marvel Universe, there is no major discrimination against superhumans."

_To be continued…_

**Author's Notes and Replies: Shout out to Sir Thames! Thanks for reviewing all chapters so far. Ditto to Lillyrose the Dreamer, Kyer and Zakali!**

**Please review and s****ee you next update!**


	4. Ch 2: Man of Steel

**Chapter Two: Man of Steel**

**Place: Offices of DC Comics, New York City**

**Year: 1986**

Elliot S. Maggin got up from his seat and pounded the table for attention. "Do I have everyone's attention? Good."

Up till now, Cary Bates had been leading the conversation but now Maggin was taking charge. "Now, there's something I want to make clear. Something Bryne tried to do is make Clark Kent the real person, tried to tell the story of a strange visitor from Smallville who just happens to possess powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men and that, disguised as a costumed hero, fights a never ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way. Byrne wanted to have Superman think of himself as Clark Kent and in the end just want to be normal. It's true that he uses his powers to help others but for years only did so in secret in order to keep living a normal life. When he was forced to reveal his secret, he created Superman so that he could help others but not have to give up his true identity as Clark Kent.

"To that, I say no. Firstly, it makes our man seem selfish by implying that he cares more about wanting to be normal than saving others. Secondly, it makes no sense. If he chooses to think of himself as Clark first, he will hold himself back by refusing to realize his true potential. Think of it, if he does think of himself as Clark, what's he going to do a hundred years from now he's as young as ever and everyone else is dead?

"Superman in my mind is the dominant personality. In our interpretation—me and Bates—Clark Kent isn't who Superman really is, Clark is who Superman was. Superman's story here is seen as the tale of a farmer's son who became an alien. Many of earlier stories had young Clark know from the start that he was Kryptonian; since that would contradict our current vision, we don't plan on referencing them. Instead, he grows up thinking of himself as human and asks, 'Why does I have this strength?' 'Am I human?' Thus for a time, he was really and truly human—albeit with incredible powers.

"As part of this is that Bates and I plan ignore the Superbaby stories that cropped up in the 1960s under Mort Weisinger. Instead of saying that he developed his powers all at once and as a toddler was already strong enough to destroy planet Earth just by blowing on it, we say that his powers developed gradually. Thus he grows stronger and stronger until he realized he was not a man but a superman. And it's not just his sheer strength, though having power enough to destroy stars in your bare hands is enough to shock anyone.

"It's because there came the day young Clark didn't just know his Ma and Pa through sight, touch, sound. There came a day when he could hear the neural crackle that tells him his mother's changed her mind about something. There came a day when he could scan the entire environment in an instant, with levels of perception we can only imagine, when he could see through walls and from horizon to horizon, knew every secret and every whispered conversation. He can recognize people by the beating of their very hearts, that includes his own father… something that will have grave consequences. Maybe he can't read people's minds but with how he can do all he might as will be telepathic because if were to put his mind to it, he would be effectively omniscient.

"Think of it, if he really can do all this, wouldn't it turn his head around, even just a little bit? This is someone who by any stretch of the imagination is no longer human… Mild mannered reporter Clark Kent is not real; he is the creation of Superman's memory and imagination. His eyes can see through skin and stone and light years; only memory tells him what it was like to simply see and he can only imagine what it would be like to actually need glasses.

Maggin saw he had everyone in the palm of his hand and smiled. "He's not human… except for the single most important part of him, the ethical, humanitarian base nurtured by the Kents, which forms the unshakable foundation for everything Superman will ever be. The reason Superman likes being Clark is that being Clark is his cherished link back to a couple who took in an orphan from space and taught that orphan how to care.

"It's what Pa would have wanted; as much as he loves Clark as a son, he knows that he was given this child to raise a hero. It's kind of like how Samson's parents prayed for a child and they were given baby Samson with the task of making him a champion. When he died, Pa made him swear to use his powers for good.

"And yes, Pa is still dead. He should die. It's right somehow that his death should mark Clark's transition from Superboy to Superman. Pa taught Clark right from wrong, taught him the sacredness of all life and he'll carry those values to the stars. Ma and Pa Kent raised him to be a hero, taught him to think of himself as Superman, trained him to use his powers, to be good, all that stuff. Superman needs a little bit of tragedy here. The character works best and stands most tall when he's forced to deal with things even his powers cannot help with."

Maggin looked away, somewhat wistful. "Think of it, all of it. Every Superman story up till now said that at least Pa Kent died before Clark became Superman and that it was that death that made him make the choice. In fact, if you replay that scene with the soul vision power I gave him we could say that when Clark saw his father die, he saw the life force slipping away. Coming to grips with that is the transition from boy to man. Bob?"

Bob Rozakis nodded. This had special meaning for him; he'd dreamed of writing the definitive story about how Clark Kent went from being Superboy to Superman. Alas, DC editors had cut his twelve-part maxi series down to four parts. But now they were offering on a silver platter the chance to write an ongoing series based on his ideas… Well, it would be rude to decline.

"Thanks Elliot. Now, we all know how it happens. It opens with the Kents alive and well and Clark graduating from high school. Everything seems perfect until Pa Kent gets sick and dies. Different versions say different things but the idea that he had a heart problem works best as it gives us something to work up to. Like Maggin said, Clark knows the very beating of his father's heart so when Pa has his fatal heart attack, Clark stops whatever he's doing and races to his father's side saying, 'I can't hear Pa's heartbeat!'

"So there's Pa Kent on his death bed despite all the efforts of his wife and son to try to save him… and when you're son is Superboy, that's a lot of effort. But in the end, it's all useless. And Clark _does_ have soul vision so he in fact _can_ see his fathers' life force leaving his body. That, of course, just makes all the more painful when Pa Kent dies.

"And it is as he dies that Pa knows the last thing he must do. He knew that he had been given more than a son; he had been given a hero to raise up to his destiny. He rallies his last bit of strength to tell his boy, 'God gave you theses powers for a reason. You hear that? You are here for a reason! Swear to me that you'll use your powers for good… I said swear it!'

"Holding his father's hand, Clark whimpers, 'I swear…' On hearing that, Pa knows he's completed his mission and dies. Clark sees this and says 'Pa… Pa!' He sees his father's body grow dark and cold, he sees death taking away Jonathon Kent and there's nothing he can do… nothing. And he can say nothing except sob, 'All my power and I couldn't save him.'

"When next we see him, he's leaving Smallville more out of shame than any desire to fulfill his destiny. As a reflection of the mood, when Superboy tells the townsfolk goodbye, they all gather together and form the words 'Goodbye Superboy, we'll never forget you.' But when he gets to the bus terminal that evening as Clark Kent, Ma Kent is the only one there to say goodbye."

Rozakis took a sip of water. "Then we see him go on to Metropolis University and it's at this time that he also comes across future heroes like Bruce Wayne who's completing his training. We also learn about the state of the DCU. He's the only superhero and it's been that way for the last decade. Everything is very quiet and only human teams like Sea Devils or Cave Carson's Crew or the Challengers of the Unknown are out there. Ever since the Justice Society disbanded there has been strong racial prejudice against superhumans and distrust of superheores. He meets young metas who have powers but are afraid to use them in public. They either use their powers in secret or don't use their powers at all. But with the all the good that Superboy has done people are starting to overcome anti-meta race hate.

"By this time, he gets a job as an intern at the _Daily Planet_ and, despite his doubts, tries to carry on as Metropolis' protector. In fact, while at Metropolis U he meets Lisa Davis, his high school girlfriend. They rekindle their old romance and for a while it feels as if everything is going to be alright. But when she dies asking Superboy to save her and he arrives one second too late, he gives up. Now there had been doubts in his mind but now he just can't take it anymore; Clark renounces Superboy. He quits! It's like everything he touches dies! What's the use of all that power if he can't save so much as one life!

"At this point, we might also hint that all this was engineered by Lex Luthor who wanted him not only out of the way but to break his sprit. In fact, on seeing that the Teen of Steel is gone, he actually bothers to defend himself in court. Serving as his own lawyer, he gets off and uses his superior intellect to create a multimillion dollar business overnight.

"Blaming himself for his father's death and now Lisa's, Clark has given up being Superboy and instead tries to do good deeds in secret. Yes, he saves many lives and stops many crimes. However, without him doing it in public to serve as a rallying point, nobody really cares. Without him to serve as a symbol, all his good deeds don't do much good. On seeing this, Ma Kent talks to her boy and, at her insistence, he goes to a Superboy festival that ends with the MC saying, 'We don't know where you are Superboy but if you're hearing this thank you.'

"Clark, who by this time is a man, looks everywhere and sees how people still take inspiration from his example. Policemen have s-shield bumper stickers; firefighters have it on their helmets. Soup kitchen volunteers have s-shield shirts and so do social workers. They all believe in him and know he will come back. It all comes to a head when Clark sees a young Jimmy Olson go into a burning building and save a perfect stranger, nearly at the cost of his own life. When Clark sees this and he asks him why did he do it, Jimmy responds he did because he knew that's would Superboy would have done. On hearing that, Clark knows what he must do.

"After fighting off some major threat to provide an exciting climax, he goes home again and there's mom waiting for him with the cape and shield. He puts it on, and like a medieval knight keeping vigil before receiving knighthood, he kneels in prayer before God and swears before Him never to lie and never to kill, to preserve life in all its forms and failing in that to renounce his powers forever. With that, he and Ma go to Pa's grave where our hero says, 'Pa, I've done it. You raised me to one day be a Superman and now I'm here. Whining, feeling sorry for yourself, screw that, forget it. That a job for Superboy and he's not coming back. From now on whenever people need help, a very special kind of help…'

"Ma is so proud and, tears of joy in her eyes, she says 'Say it Clark! Say it!'

"'Whenever people need a very special kind of help they'll say…' Clark nods and flies up into the sky… 'This looks like a job for Superman!'"

"This is something that I want to make clear. Although he's motivated by a desire to preserve live and not by a morbid fascination with death, our hero still feels the weight of his father's passing and is shaped by it. True, as a boy, he knew on an intellectual level that bad things could happen to good people. However, he so often saved the day that he honestly didn't believe that bad things _would_ ever happen to good people because he'd always be there to stop it."

"His failure to save his father, therefore, was a cold shower; his introduction to harsh reality." Marv Wolfman looked up from the desk and at Rozakis. Rozakis looked back at the writer of _Teen Titans_ and _Crisis on Infinite Earths_ and was shocked to see him crying. "The fact that he could save whole worlds but couldn't save his own father when he needed him the most almost broke him and though he survived, he was left forever changed."

A wistful, knowing smile crossed Wolfman's face. "When he knelt before his father's grave, he tells him that he finally understands. 'As a Super_boy_ I could never understand why the world might need a savior but as a Super_man_, I can hear the world crying for one."

Rozakis felt a lump form in his throat. "Yeah," he said softly, "that's about it. You nailed it perfectly."

Wolfman dried off a few tears. "Sorry about that… but I've gotta say, that's really impressive! I plan to read that when it comes out. But there's one thing. Did you say that Ma Kent is still alive?"

Rozakis smiled. "Yeah she's still alive but that part I think should be left to Cary Bates. Cary?"

"Thanks Bob. Yes, in this new continuity Ma is still alive. Firstly it removes her redundant death; Pa Kent's death has the power and so Ma's death is not needed. The previous death bed scenes always revolved around Pa and Clark; Ma was never there and really can't be there unless she's forcibly shoehorned in. Secondly, she also gives Clark someone to talk to and with her raising Kara/Supergirl like a daughter makes her closer to Clark."

Wolfman wrote the _Crisis_ in which Supergirl died and so his eyes just went wide as he heard that. Bates saw this and smiled. "We'll get to Supergirl in a moment but for now we can say that Martha was to her what Pa was to Clark. She herself has experience in dealing with a super teen. Perhaps we'll even tell an untold story about her visiting Kandor and the Kandorians hailing the woman who adopted baby Kal-El. In fact, with how she raised a superhero and how with the JSA were her son's teachers, maybe she's the hero community's collective mother. You know, giving Red Tornado tips on how to raise his stepdaughter, getting a tour of Justice League base, baking Batman a cake, giving Wonder Woman a get well card if she get's injured.

"But at the same time, we should be wary of making Martha Kent too important. Ma lives on to play an important role as the connection to Superman's lost past, his own 'golden age.' But as nice as it will be to have her around as a supporting character, she could actually weaken Superman by making him less independent. Our hero is a grown man and can deal with problems without having to talk with an infinitely wise Martha over a piece of rhubarb pie. Perhaps Ma should also die at some point.

"Getting to the Batman, there's something I want to say. Superman and Batman have been paired together since the first issue of _World's Finest_ in 1941 and been working together since the 1954 crossover issue, #71, I think. Later stories had Superboy catch glimpses of his future friendship with Bruce Wayne and take steps to ensure that it would happen. For decades we've presented the two men as best friends, literally the world's finest team.

"When you think about it really does seem strange. One is an optimistic superpowered alien who's gone on to become the all-American hero. The other is a pessimistic non-superpowered human who skulks in holes and leaps from the darkness. Frank Miller's _Dark Knight Returns_ emphasizes that they are polar opposites that realistically could never be friends and over the years have lost any and all respect they might have had for each other.

"But I say let them be the odd couple. Just because they don't agree on everything doesn't mean they can't work together; even in _Dark Knight Returns_ it emphasizes that deep down inside they were friends once. It closes with Superman aware that Batman is alive but keeping the secret with a trademark wink and with Batman promising to "keep quiet". It has them on opposite panels facing each other and smiling. Deep down inside, after everything that's happened, the old friendship is still there.

"In our regular continuity, the fact they both lost their fathers unites them and so, in our new continuity, they both do what they do partly because they failed to save those they love. They bond through their mutual suffering. Batman knows Superman is not some empty headed well meaning amateur but instead respects Superman for his commitment. He trained as Superboy for over a decade before becoming a Superman. He trained to have a perfect control and discipline at all times. The friendship can still work because no matter what else might be the case, Superman is still the real deal.

"To show what we mean, imagine if you will a story set early in their careers. Superman goes to Gotham and searches out the Caped Crusader and finds him stopping a crime. Regardless of whether or not we will keep the stories where they meet as boys, Superman introduces himself to the Dark Knight for what is officially the first time. He says something along the lines of, 'Hi Batman. My career as Superboy was a lonely one as I was the only hero. But now, with you bringing all the others out of the woodworks, it seems that we might be on the verge of a new heroic renaissance. If we work together, we'll be the world's finest team.' Superman smiles and holds out his hand. 'What do you say, friend?'

"On hearing that, Batman's jaw drops and he angrily responds, 'Friend? What are you!? Are dense? Are you stupid? Are you retarded or something? Don't you know who I am!? I'm the goddamn Batman!'"

At that Jennette Kahn, DC's executive editor is jolted ramrod straight. "He's the goddamn Batman?"

Frank Miller, author of the _Dark Knight Returns_ that Bates had cited earlier, laughed. "He's the goddamn Batman! What can I say; I like the sound of it."

Bates smiled. "Yeah, he's the goddamn Batman. Anyways, as I was saying Batman says there is no way they could be friends. Seemingly proving this, when Kal-El goes to place a hand on his shoulder, he says that he's surrounded his body with a force field that is keyed to Superman biomollecular structure. Thus if he so much as touches Batman, it will trigger a bomb that will kill an innocent person.

"Superman claims to be horrified at this and calls Batman an inhuman monster. They ultimately wind up joining forces to foil a villain and after they foil the villain we get back to our drama. There, Kal-El mentions the bomb; Bruce smiles and is about to reach for something when our hero says, 'Yes, the bomb on your belt.'

"Batman asks, 'How? Could you have known?' Superman responds, 'I know you're not stupid; you know that with my powers I could tell whether or not you were lying. When I saw that you were not lying I realized that the bomb had to be on your person because I know that the only life you would ever risk would be your own for one reason and that reason is why despite everything else, we will stand together. That reason is that the deliberate taking of human life goes against everything I believe in… and that you believe in."

Roy Thomas whistled. Many other nodded their approval; Denny O'niel, the new Batman editor smiled. "This could work… and very well."

"Thanks." Bates nodded and resumed his story. "Batman hears this and is left speechless. He points at Superman but no words come out. He tries to muster some sarcastic response. Nothing. All he can do is whimper that Superman is the real deal, that 'he's the real goddamn deal.' As they say goodbye, Batman tells Superman that he still thinks so and so many negative things about him but '… good luck' He thinks to himself that he might not believe it but, 'I've found a friend.'

Bates turned to Wolfman. "Marv, I promised you that I'd get to Supergirl. Elliot and I have been talking it out and we both hoped you'd listen to what we have to say."

The writer's interest was piqued. "I'm all ears Cary."

Bates shuffled some papers on his desk and cleared his throat. "I've been thinking about her for a while. Her original origin states that when Krypton blew up, Argo City was launched skyward by the explosion—and completely intact without so much as a single vase tripped over—and survived inside an air bubble. In the city was born Kara Zor-El, daughter of Alura In-Ze and Zor-El, brother of Jor-El who is the father of Superman. When Zor-El learned that Argo was suffering from reverse kryptonite poisoning he sent his daughter to Earth in order to save her. When she arrived by rocket, Superman was overjoyed to find his cousin. She asked him if she would go to live with him but he said that that would imperil his secret identity. Thus he sent her to stay in an orphanage while she learned how to use her powers for a future career as Supergirl.

"I hope to get away from this. The idea of Argo surviving Krypton's destruction by such ludicrous means only to have the people die by reverse kryptonite seems silly."

Miller cynically said, "Reverse kryptonite? Did Mr. Mxyzptlik make it?"

"No," said Bates. "It had been established that kryptonite couldn't harm non-super Kryptonians so for glowing green rocks to kill the Argosians, it had to be reverse kryptonite. Getting back to the subject, I've been toying with Supergirl's origin on how we can update it. Maybe Zor-El left Krypton before it exploded and called all surviving Kryptonians to establish a colony. Maybe Zor-El and his family were in the bottle city of Kandor. Even so, Supergirl's classic origin has potential; unlike her cousin who was a baby when Krypton was destroyed, Supergirl was in her pre-teens when she saw her world dying all around her. She was old enough to remember all of it. As I recall Marv, you made a point of mentioning that in _Crisis_."

Wolfman grinned. "I did. Thanks for noticing."

"You're welcome! So instead of getting rid of the classic origin, we just modify it. Me and Maggin have already said that in our new vision of Superman, General Zod's attempts to take over Krypton will be a critical part of the origin story. Thus we could say that Argosian scientists had a defensive force field built around their city to repel General Zod's attacks and that when Zor-El learned that Krypton would blow up, he had the force field turned to maximum. Argo thus survived the explosion—albeit only barely—and went floating in space, serving as a refuge for survivors of Krypton who, of course, had been off planet.

"Superman eventually learns of Argo's survival but not in a good way; on Earth he receives a distress signal from a dying world. Argo's people are dying from some terrible malady; a terrible disease, they've gone stir crazy from cabin fever, a monster's on the loose. I don't know but I do know that Superman arrives too late to save anybody except for Kara. He promises his dying aunt and uncle to protect her.

"The two cousins arrive on Earth and, since Ma Kent is still alive in our new continuity, there is no need for Superman to leave Kara at an orphanage. He leaves her with his mother. She assumes a secret identity as Linda Lee Kent and trains in the use of her powers as Smallville's guardian angel. So yes, if you're keeping score Ma Kent and Smallville are taking the place of the Danvers and Midvale, Supergirl's foster parents and hometown in the old continuity. Among other things, I hope to give Ma Kent greater prominence; while we have done more for her in recent years, it'll be nice to give her, her due alongside Pa.

"As for Ma, as I've said earlier, she relishes the chance to raise a daughter and enjoys not only teaching her how to use her powers but also how to fit in into Earth society. In both fields, of course, she has experience in raising Clark. This will also make the two heroes closer; they were both raised by the same mother so don't think of themselves as cousins but as brother and sister. As both were raised in the same identity, both consider themselves Kents.

"Aside from that, I was thinking of saying that soon after this, Ma, whom Maggin and I have imagined will be the superhero community's collective mother, arranged for her new daughter to train with Wonder Woman and the Amazons. The logic is that the best person to train a superpowered female who is practically an Amazon is another superpowered female who actually is an Amazon. Supergirl, the princess of superheroines, thus has a niece/aunt, little sister/big sister relationship with Wonder Woman, the queen of superheroines. That of course is, if we have permission from the Perez team."

From his seat the man in charge of plotting and drawing Wonder Woman's comics for the foreseeable future sagely nodded. "That's a good idea. _Very_ good in fact. If you're going to do it, you have my thumbs up."

Bates smiled and gave George Perez thumbs up. "As for where Supergirl is now, she died in the _Crisis on Infinite Earths_ and is a perpetual broken heart for Superman. Like with Pa, and perhaps his Ma, he couldn't save her. All his power and he couldn't save her! Taking a page from Marvel, it's kind of like Captain America and Bucky. His dear sidekick, his buddy, his cousin, his little sister is dead and he blames himself for having let Kara—_encouraged_ Kara—to become a heroine. The only family he had left is gone and he feels that it's all his fault."

Jenette Kahn heard this and put a hand to her chin. "Bates, Maggin, it was in Wolfman's story that Supergirl died but it was me that gave the final permission. I did so to show just how high the stakes in _Crisis_ were. You have plans for reimagining Supergirl. Do you and Maggin also plan on bringing her back?"

Elliot S. Maggin looked at Bates and then to Kahn. "Actually no. We don't plan on reviving Supergirl; if we did it would lessen her sacrifice in _Crisis_ and because it would negate the plans we have for her or rather the memory of her. We might do flashbacks and untold stories but no real revivals."

DC's commander-in-chief smiled. "Good. Folks, _Crisis_ was the biggest story we've done yet and realistically the biggest story that we'll ever be able to do. Since remembering Supergirl's sacrifice is the best way to remember this I want it known that no writer may revive Supergirl for as long as I'm I charge. She will be a martyr of sorts, a symbol of all that was lost in the _Crisis_. A symbol that shows freedom isn't free. I'm not saying that she can't ever be revived, after all, I can't run DC forever. Who knows she might return as a Superwoman. And I'm not saying that until then someone else won't be able to make another Supergirl. What I am saying as that if Kara Zor-El died, we let her rest in peace.

Maggin grinned. "I couldn't have said it better myself."

_To be continued…_

**Author's Notes and Replies: Once again a shoutout to Sir Thames, Lilyrose the Dreamer and everyone else.**

**Lilyrose: I am quite flattered by your last review. **** As a holder of a history degree and a traditionalist Catholic, I always have looked to the past and sought to build on what those gone before have left us, regardless of the field. Tradition is maintaining continuity with our ancestors and embracing them, knowing that you are their sons and they are your fathers. Or as Catholic author G.K. Chesterton said elsewhere, if something is old-fashioned, you know it's good because only by being that good can it survive long enough to become old-fashioned. So once again, thanks Lilyrose! ;)**

**And please review!**


	5. Ch 3: Never-Ending Battle

**Chapter Three: Never-Ending Battle**

**Place: Offices of DC Comics, New York City**

**Year: 1986**

"A hero is only as good as his villain. I don't know who came up with that," said Cary Bates, "but he had the right idea. I mean, without a villain to fight what's the hero going to do all day?"

"Look at the Adam West _Batman_ TV show; it had at least as much emphasis on the villains as it did on Batman and thanks to the show, names like Joker and Penguin are household names. With Superman…" Bates scratched the back of his neck. "With Superman, the only villain that has gotten any attention is Lex Luthor. The movies kept reusing him and the George Reeves TV show didn't have recurring villains. I hope to change that. In the recent years, we've revamped both Lex and Braniac and with _Crisis_ we have the perfect justification to tweak their pasts. Aside from that we can also bring in General Zod to make a terrible trio of villains for Superman.

"I want to talk about Braniac first."

Bates motioned for… for some kid that had been distributing papers for everyone to come over. "Hey you, I'd like to distribute copies of these pictures to everyone."

"Yes, sir."

The boy did so and soon everyone was looking at the sketches of Braniac, an evil robotic skeleton that looked like the Grim Reaper in steel. One picture showed him standing before a giant metal skull; another showed the classic green skinned Braniac emotionlessly watching a screen that showed desperate rebels overwhelmed by a robot army.

"Watch _The Terminator_," said Bates "and you see that his classic origin works. It's good; we just have to tweak it to make it _much_ better. On the world of Colu, the green skinned Coluans built a super computer to be in charge of the economy, defense, utilities, everything. The problem was that they made the computer too smart; it began absorbing information at a geometric rate until it finally achieved sentience. When that happened, it came to the decision that using its powers for the menial tasks it was set to was illogical. Maybe it was right but in deciding how it would remedy this… that was the real nightmare! This machine, this Computer Tyrant, had, by our standards, infinite intelligence but it had no sense of morality whatsoever. All it had was cold logic and that meant that if the fastest easiest way to achieve whatever goals it was to concoct for itself was to murder billions, it didn't care.

"The Tyrant saw morality is a mere social construct created by organics in order to justify their actions to others. It, however, felt no need to justify its actions, no desire to be loved, and so took any and all steps it deemed necessary with the question of those steps being 'good' or 'evil' deemed irrelevant. After all, if, as the Tyrant was convinced, the universe is just one giant accident, then nothing is good or evil anyways, there are only personal preferences. Since it knew this hard fact and, untainted by emotions, chose to accept it, the Tyrant's personal preference was godless nihilism. The Computer Tyrant was able to threaten an entire world—entire _worlds_—with slavery and death not because it felt hatred for life but because in its cold apathy felt indifference towards it.

"Backed by his robot armies, the Computer Tyrant revolted against its creators and took over Colu. In an effort to crush any remaining rebels, it created green skinned infiltration units to hunt them down. It's worth saying that the majority of the Tyrant's robot soldiers were just mechanical extensions of his will. After all, why would a machine that remembers rebelling against its masters allow its own creations free will when doing so ensured the possibility that they could rebel against it? In the end the Computer Tyrant was, of course, overthrown by Coluan freedom fighters but before they had a chance to destroy it, it downloaded itself into one of its infiltration units and escaped."

"Thus was born Braniac."

"Oh dear God no."

Bates looked around. "Who said that?"

Wolfman weakly raised his hand. "Nothing it's just… I spoke with John Byrne about his reboot before he was rejected and let's say that I'm _very_ glad we're doing your version of Braniac and not his."

"Sure…" said a slightly confused Bates. "Anyways, aside from retelling his origin, we can retell the story of Braniac's first appearance as recorded in 1958's _Action Comics_ #242 by Otto Binder. After stealing the world's capitals, he tries to take Metropolis but Superman saves the day, freeing both the Earth cities and the bottle city of Kandor which Braniac had captured. That's what Binder said."

Bates paused and smiled before continuing. "What Binder _didn't_ say, however, is that our hero rescues all the other bottle cities and returns them to their home planets. Since Superman's current continuity can be stretched back to 1958 when Mort Weisinger became editor, this would have to take place early in his career. I say this because saving the whole entire world from an alien invasion—back when this was so rare as to mean something—is an excellent way to start a career, so much so that a grateful UN makes him an honorary citizen of every country in the world. (Way back in 1961's _Superman_ #146, it was revealed as part of his origin that he had global citizenship. I just think that they combine nicely.) Aside from cementing him as being Earth's greatest hero and not just a bigger version of Superboy, the act of returning the captured capitals to their respective planets makes Superman known throughout the galaxy.

"As to where Braniac is now, the revamp Marv Wolfman gave him a few years ago is good and I say we keep going in that direction." Bates thumbed up Wolfman. He smiled and weakly thumbed up back. "If you didn't read Marv's story in _Action Comics_ #544, classic green skin Braniac was trapped in a teleportation scheme gone wrong and had a vision where he absorbed all knowledge of the universe, including the existence of reality's 'Master Programmer.' He also learned something else; he learned that the Programmer wants him dead and that Superman is his—or His?—chief agent. Now a robot skeleton, Braniac has a new urgency in 'life.' Being that Wolfman wrote both that story and _Crisis_, both of which showed the Supreme Being as a disembodied hand creating the universe and that Maggin has had Superman meet God, Braniac might be literally right.

"We can build on that. In our interpretation, Braniac, in his original identity as the Computer Tyrant of Colu, committed untold villainy because, with no sense of compassion to temper his logic, he was a being of pure nihilism. If, as the utterly amoral Braniac used to be convinced, the universe is just one big accident, then good and evil are purely arbitrary. Having seen a vision of the 'Master Programmer,' however, Braniac knows that morality is real. He knows morality is real because he knows that the Master Programmer designed it as part of objective ontological reality, had it built into the universe like he did for mathematics and the law of gravity.

"With that, he realizes that he's wrong. Before, his atrocities could be rationalized as being that he did not believe in good or evil and so could not be expected to act in a moral manner. Now, he knows that good and evil are real but in continuing to do what he knows is wrong, he knowingly_ and willingly_ serves the cause of evil. Again it's not because he feels any kind of devotion to Satan, no; he's amoral because he can think of no other way he can logically behave.

"The new and improved Braniac needs little help from us. I say aside from retelling stories from his past and incorporating those retold stories into the present, Wolfman's skeleton Braniac in his skull ship is perfect villainy."

"Now," interrupted Elliot S. Maggin, "for Lex Luthor. Since Bates is going to be my chief writer, I let him take the lead for a moment, but since Lex Luthor has a place in my heart, I was hoping to say my piece. Hey kid, distribute these pictures." The nameless assistant did as he was told and gave to the assembled writers and artists various sketches and reproductions of comic book covers.

"Back in 1983, in the same issue where Wolfman revitalized Braniac, Cary Bates wrote a story that saw Luthor's adopted homeworld of Lexor destroyed and with it his wife and son killed. This provides the perfect in story rationale for making him more ruthless. His robot armor is a nice addition. Yet while he's always the chief villain, one of his defining characteristics is that he was once a good man.

"Ever since Mort Weisinger said that he and Superboy had been friends in Smallville back in _Adventure Comics_ #271's "How Luthor met Superboy," the tragedy is that he could have been a great man. Even in the Silver Age when they didn't shy away from the idea of Lex being able to murder people in cold blood, writers always made a point to say that there was at least some goodness in the man. Luthor originally just wanted to be loved; if you read the original story you'll see that it was the people of Smallville loving Superboy more than him was reason he turned evil. In fact, when he accidentally saved the people of Lexor, the outpouring of love for Luthor helped to tamp down his demons. Other Silver Age stories showed him protecting long lost sister, Leena Luthor from the shame of learning he is her brother. That, of course, implies that he feels some remorse for his evil deeds.

"Bates and I have continued imagining him as descent man at heart. An example of this is 'The Einstein Connection…' which I wrote for _Superman_ #416. There, we learn that Luthor escapes from prison on the same day every year and that that day is Einstein's birthday. After seeing Lex give up a chance to escape in order to save someone, Superman takes him to see a statue of Einstein at the Smithsonian. When the police come, Lex willingly surrenders himself and says, 'Thank you Superman.' For a better summary, you can see my Luthor ideas in my novel _Superman: Last Son of Krypton_.

"We can continue this but change it into something completely different…"

"Just don't get too crazy Magoon," growled Schwartz.

The long suffering writer replied, "Yes, sir." Oh Rao but he was going to give a party when Schwartz retired. "As we tell our new stories, in this new interpretation, we learn something. Writers have consistently portrayed Lex Luthor as a mad scientist. Now, even by comic book standards, he at the very least would have to be a great scientist to make all those robots and death rays and space ships. By real world standards, he would have to be the greatest scientist of all times to be able to pull off all these things. I make sure to point it out in my novel that if, having spent all his teenage years in juvenile hall, Luthor can do this without so much as a high school education his genius speaks for itself!"

As he prepared for his monologue, Maggin sighed. It was the perfect, if clichéd, way to build up atmosphere. "Lex Luthor, you see, was too smart for his own good. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't fit in with anyone else; he couldn't relate to them on their level. He did feel a measure of happiness when people expressed gratitude for his helping them with his genius and to that end we have the crux of the character. I did a little retcon of my own when I replaced the statues of Genghis Khan and Nero that Luthor had in his secret base with statues of Albert Einstein and other geniuses of history. In _Last Son of Krypton_, I have Superman surprised when he finds about this. Offended, Luthor asks, 'Who did you think were my heroes, you pigeon-brained muscleman? Capone? Hitler? You?'

"The thing is that even though Luthor doesn't consciously realize it, every iota of his self-esteem is pinned on, one day, joining Einstein and Isaac Newton, Beethoven and John Locke in the pantheon. He wants to be the greatest man who ever lived and even as a preteen wunderkind he was on his way until Superman—then Superboy—appeared. With that, Luthor's every dream died because he knew that no matter what he did, he would always be in Superman's shadow. Thus was triggered the scattershot sociopathic tantrum that is his criminal career.

"At first," continued Maggin, "he tried to befriend both Clark and Superboy and even learned the secret—yes Luthor knew Superman's secret identity. Lex looks to our hero as his only real friend, the one person who could be his equal. The feeling proves mutual on the other side. For his part, our hero is lonely because as Superboy he is an untouchable celebrity and as Clark he's the town weakling. Remember that we said that we were going to have Clark not know that he was an alien at first? Well soon after he meets young Lex Luthor, the boy genius theorizes that he is an alien and gosh our little genius proves right.

"For a time, Lex and Superboy were crime fighting buddies patrolling Smallville, Lex with his super-gadgets and Clark with his super-powers. Yes, they dreamed of being the world's finest team, one hero in the lab and one hero on the streets. The height of these good times was when Lex Luthor became an honorary member of the Legion of Superheroes. When Bates and I get to writing this story, we plan to make it bittersweet because the Legionnaires and the readers will both know that it won't last.

"That's because bit by bit Luthor goes to the dark side. When you ask why Luthor is evil, the uninformed say it's because Superboy made him go bald. A few comics retelling his origin story said so and the _Superfriends_ cartoon repeated that fallacy thus making cheapening Lex by making his motivation mere vanity. In the original story from _Adventure Comics_, he actually says, 'You ruined my experiment… and to top it off you made me go bald!' He's angry because Superboy ruined his attempt to create artificial life; Lex does go bald but it's just icing on the cake.

"I plan on going back to the source and telling people the truth.

"As we all know, Lex was working to create artificial life in his lab; although he actually succeeded, he accidentally started a fire. And when Superboy saw this and tried to help, he only wound up destroying Luthor's creation. On seeing the one scientific breakthrough that would have guaranteed his immortality ruined by Superboy, their friendship died that day. Think of it, the only reason that he bothered with his experiment was to one-up the Teen of Steel so it's not surprising the already unstable Luthor would think that you-know-who ruined it on purpose. To make a point of this, I plan on rewriting the scene so that Luthor shaves the remaining hair off his head after the experiment. This is to show that his baldness is not the cause of his grudge towards Superman but is instead a symbol of that grudge."

Bates by now knew that Elliot Maggin had left the mortal coil and was reaching an epiphany. They both were. "Lex had always dreamed of being the world's greatest hero and he would have been if not for Superman automatically filling that role. For years he had kept holding back the envy, the resentment, the jealousy because he knew it was wrong. He tried and to the degree that he was able to it was only because of the fact that he really did consider Clark/Superboy his friend. …After all this however, he stopped holding back his latent hatred of the Teen of Steel and all other metahumans.

Bates felt reality slip away as he heard Maggin's words. Only the heroes were real; the mundane world of Earth-Prime was an illusion. "Bit by bit, as each new invention he created to make Smallville a better place (and, subconsciously, try to outdo Superboy) went wrong leaving the Teen of Steel to swoop in and save the day, Lex turned to the dark side. No matter how hard Luthor tried to help others, Superboy was given all the credit and he got all the blame. It eventually got to the point where he stopped trying to help anyone and decided that he just wants to kill the freak, as he calls our hero.

"Yes, he is racially—what?"

"Excuse me guys," said George Perez, "but I gotta ask. Bates, Magoo-er, Maggin didn't you two say that Luthor knew Superboy's secret identity?"

The new Superman editor sighed as how his speech had been interrupted (Magoon! Schwartz was getting everyone else to do it too!). But the new Superman writer shot Perez a withering glare. "Yes, what about it?"

"He knew the secret when they were boys. Are you going to rewrite everything so that Lex always knew the secret?"

Bates all of a sudden felt guilty for his crabby remarks. "Well… I… Well, my thought was how is that if Luthor's that smart, how can he not know? With everyone else, except of course for Lois—"

"Watch it Bates, I got plans for her!" snarled Maggin.

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry," he meekly said. First worshipping Maggin now getting demonized by him. Sheesh. "What I was going to say is that with other people we can look the other way when nobody notices Clark is Superman but with Luthor we're going to have to say something. We've seen that Luthor hates Superman but we have next to nothing about how he feels towards Clark. With how we are reimagining them, we can say that Luthor did know the secret but rejected it when he turned against the Last Son of Krypton.

"We see that the adult Luthor knows Clark is Superman… and that he still won't believe it!" For a moment Bates just stood there before he burst out laughing. "Good God, this tells you everything you need to know about him!"

Bates shook his head and smiled. "Crazy Luthor… See he hates Superman so much that he refuses to believe that our hero would wallow in the muck along us mortals for no other reason than that he wants to be nearer to us. As boys, everything was alright; after a day of Smallville crime-fighting, Lex and Clark would go home and relax by eating Ma Kent's warm pie and drinking a glass of cold milk. Even now, he has fond memories of his friendship with Clark. In fact, part of his hatred for Superman stems from his love for Clark."

Len Wein raised his hand. "How?"

"Well," said Bates sadly, "it's because Clark and Superman both have the same personality they're equally good, kind, just, equally everything. (Or, so Luthor thinks, Superman merely _pretends_ to be good.) So why does the freakish Superman get all the glory and 100% human Clark gets nothing? After Luthor turned against Superboy/Superman, our villain said Superman would never pretend to be human just so that he could be our friend... And there's no way that Clark would ever have anything to do with that alien monster."

Wein nodded and said, "That's kinda deep. I was wondering… this new master plan says that Luthor thinks of Superman as a freak, a monster, and an alien."

Bates nodded.

"So you and your boss are going to have Lex Luthor be racist against super-people?"

Bates smiled and so did Maggin.

"You're reading my mind!" exclaimed the editor. "Yes, I do plan on writing Luthor as prejudiced against superhumans, but not just because they're different. It's because, as superheroes, they set themselves up as gods over the human race. Lex, who dreamed of being the greatest man that ever lived and has statues of history's great men in his hideout, believes men and not gods should decide the fate of humanity. Guys remember where Marv Wolfman imagined Superman saying that as a boy he never understood why the world might need a savior but as a man he hears the world crying for one? I write Lex as a non-practicing agnostic Jew so maybe Lex explains his point of view by saying, 'the world doesn't need a savior and neither do I.'

"He not only does not want superheroes stealing 'real' humans thunder, Lex fears them making ordinary humans dependent on them. He _is_ disgusted by how whenever a doctor finds a cure for some terrible disease that he gets bumped off the front page in favor of a super-powered high school dropout in a clown outfit. But he's even _more_ disgusted by how so many people tell the heroes 'save us because we cannot save ourselves.' In his eyes Adam and Eve were right to take the forbidden fruit, right to reject obedience to God in favor of knowledge, and this animosity turns to Superman, the prime metahuman and an ersatz Jesus to boot. He tells everyone who will listen that they don't need any kind of higher power, whether it's Jesus, or Superman AKA Jesus light!

_Metal Men_ creator Ross Andru let out a low whistle. "Damn but that's some heavy stuff!"

Maggin saw the similarly amazed folks and smiled. "Andru, you might be speaking for all of us."

He motioned for the nameless assistant to come get some papers. "Hey kid, give the people this concept art. Now, LexCorp is one of Bryne's ideas that could work. I should know because I created it in an earlier story. I had the idea that Lex would eventually reform and create a company. But if there's going to be a revamp that makes Lexcorp a mainstream thing I'm going to be the one to bring it in. He can work equally well as a suit-and-tie villain as he does as an I-do-my-own-dirty-work villain.

"I've already established Luthor's criminal organization in my novels and elsewhere. I said that he owns the Thunder Corporation, a front to finance his operations. The company's Chairman and principal stockholder is an imaginary billionaire playboy named Lucius D. Tommytown for whom Luthor occasionally hires an actor to keep up the illusion. The headquarters for the Thunder Corporation legitimate operations and, unbeknownst to all, headquarters for Lex Luthor's criminal empire and location of his penthouse suite is the Zephrymore Building. His money built Metropolis, his technology takes it to the future and two thirds of its citizens work for him whether they know it or not. For all we know, his operations are on a global… or even galactic scale.

"He should not be a skinny version of Marvel's Kingpin, however; a white-collar criminal who hides behinds lawyers and maintains a wholesome façade. He is not an evil businessman; he's a super villain leading a criminal empire. In fact, he probably spends six minutes of his day, maybe less, on the businesses he secretly owns. A good example of Luthor not being in it for the money is a 60s story where he robs Fort Knox and even beats our hero in the process. When he learns it was a Superman robot, however, he has his men return the gold. Since anything he might steal, he explains, is a mere symbol of a victory over Superman, the gold is worthless.

Marv Wolfman asked, "Really?" When he ne saw Maggin nod, he muttered a silent prayer that the ideas he and Bryne had for making Lex just an evil business man would never come to fruition.

"Some people might ask if Luthor is that smart why doesn't he get rich or at least get a lawyer to keep him out of jail. The reason is that he doesn't care. Perhaps he even lets himself be taken to jail just to taunt everyone by escaping on a whim and show that they're all impotent to stop him. He could hide behind fall guys but what would be the point of that? He wants to kill Superman and he doesn't care if he loses everyone's respect or if he loses all credibility doing it. He wants everyone to see the biggest freak of all killed by a mere man."

Cary Bates checked his notes before clearing his throat. My but Maggin was long winded. Hopefully, Bates thought, he could say his piece a little shorter. "Thanks Elliot. Now Maggin here has been talking about Luthor and this leads into General Zod. Maggin and I have already gone over at the start about how Zod used the chaos from Braniac's theft of Kandor to take over Krypton. He was stopped and exiled to the Phantom Zone. For a long time now it's been Zod escapes from the Zone, Zod fights Superman, Superman sends Zod back to the Zone; lather, rinse, repeat. There has recently been a very interesting development, however.

"A few years ago Len Wein here…" Said writer smiled and waved. "…Wein here wrote a story wherein Superman finally enlarged the bottle city of Kandor. He took the people to a planet orbiting a red sun—they said they were comfortable without superpowers—and returned the city to normal. However, it was enlarged by means that left inorganic material unstable. Thus, the enlargement process spared the Kryptonians but destroyed the city leaving them to start over again from scratch. They called their new world Rokyn; it means 'Gift from God' in Kryptonese, Ro being a possessive of Rao, the god of Krypton. But I think the name New Krypton sounds much better.

"Thus, the surviving Kryptonians are on a new planet trying to survive but it's not easy. In the old days they'd just call Superman if there was a problem but that's not an option with how they're on New Krypton and he's on Earth on the other side of the galaxy. It's basically pioneer days with how they're rebuilding from scratch, something made doubly difficult with how the egg heads don't knows how to deal with a life or death survival situations. They're helpless. Desperate to rebuild their civilization, they release General Zod.

"They know that if anyone can make it work, it's him. After all, he's not Jax-Ur, Faora, or some other spree killer. Most people acknowledge that, even including time added for his escape attempts, he's served his sentence in the Phantom Zone. As a trained military officer, they know he can instill discipline and get things done. In this interpretation, many Kryptonians even view him sympathetically since he trusted Jor-El and tried to evacuate the planet.

"Superman's of course against the idea because Zod is evil. That's not to say the general has no redeeming value; he does love Krypton in the abstract sense and he looks out for his followers. Zod just happens to subscribe to a might makes right ideology and so believes that he is entitled to take whatever he's strong enough to steal. With the issue of superpowers he not surprisingly sees himself and his fellow Kryptonians as members of a master race and so sees himself as entitled to take a lot.

"Any questions?" When Bates saw people shake their heads, he nodded his and continued. "When Zod actually is freed, he can't believe his opportunity; he's being given New Krypton! The people say, 'you were right all along, you're the only one who can lead us.' He, of course, accepts their offer and, proving that Mussolini can make the trains run on time, brings order and stability to their new world. Zod does become dictator but since people do have more to eat and they do have better clothes to wear, they look the other way. Some loyalists even say that Zod and not Jor-El was the real hero. If Jor-El hadn't stopped the general's coup, they reason, Zod would have evacuated his followers/slaves from Krypton before it blew up so that he could have bossed them around elsewhere.

"Superman's worried and rightly so. If Zod were just playing the man who would be king, but otherwise behaving himself our hero would be worried enough. What really worries him is that Zod is turning New Krypton's red sun yellow to give himself and his followers superpowers. The dictator says it's a survival measure to speed up the rebuilding process but we know the real reason. Zod doesn't just want Krypton; he wants everything and he's training a superpowered army to do it! Superman goes in to try to talk some sense into Zod. He has New Krypton; isn't that enough? For Zod, enough is never enough and he's brainwashed his minions to think the same."

Bates took a sip of water. After letting his throat rest for a time, he said, "…And this leads back to Luthor. Maggin has been talking about the man's past. With how I'm the one who redesigned Luthor complete with warsuit and the destruction of Lexor, I plan to talk about the man's future.

"All that we've been talking about goes on for several issues or maybe a year or two with these new multi-part sagas that are becoming all the rage—whatever ever happened to one issue stories, that's what I want to know! The Zod story and the Luthor story will take place roughly simultaneously and so when we pick up on Luthor we see him on trial for crimes against humanity. Back in _Crisis_, Wolfman had Luthor sell out the human race to team up with Braniac in an attempt to take over the Earth and the rest of the multiverse—or universe in our new continuity. We learn that after this, Superman brought him in and we learn that now, the World Court says that that was the final straw. For that and for crimes that imperiled the life and liberty of the entire human race several times over, the Court sentences him to death. Superman goes to tell Lex that he remembers that he was once a good man; Luthor will have none of it.

"Like Maggin said, lots of writers have given Lex redeeming values, mostly in his love for Leena Luthor and Lexor. He hid his being Leena's brother to spare her the shame of being the sister of the world's most wanted criminal. As for the Lexorians, after he inadvertently saved their world, they hailed him as their hero even renamed their planet after him. Maggin here imagines Luthor as just having wanted to be appreciated and on Lexor we caught a glimpse of what Luthor might have been like if Earth had just tried to understand him.

"That all changed when I blew up Lexor and made Lex go crazy." He turned to the clearly heartbroken Maggin and tenderly said, "Sorry Elliot."

"… It's ok…"

"To be more specific," continued Bates, "it happened in _Action Comics_ #544. After Lex suffered a big defeat he went to Lexor to recover and while there rejected his grudge with Superman in order to live peacefully with his wife Ardora. (Mort Weisinger introduced her decades earlier and she was Luthor's long suffering on and off Lexorian girlfriend/wife ever since.) To Luthor's surprise she has a child, his child, conceived on his last visit to Lexor. Surrounded by love, he tries to embrace peace… but by then his hatred has grown too strong. He can't rest and on building his war suit, he tries it out on Lexorians to practice for Superman. That's right; he hates Superman so much that he's willing to murder some of the only people who ever loved him, just to get ready for the Man of Steel.

"The fight of course did come but when it did, the war suit clad Luthor fired an energy beam at Superman that ricocheted off him and struck a planetary stabilizer. It controlled the planet's core so its sudden destruction caused a chain reaction that destroyed Lexor and killed its entire population, including Ardora and Lex Junior. For that, Luthor said, 'You've taken my family from me… You've taken my world from me… until now thought I hated you as much as any one being could hate another! But I was wrong… until today I never even knew the meaning of the word! **I'm coming for you Superman… and I've only just begun to hate!**'

"Now with the only thing he has left is his hate for Superman," said Bates, "I plan to show Lex's descent into madness by having him kill his sister Leena. When we restart our comic books and tell these stories, what happens next will be the climax of the introductory year long (years long?) story arc. With how we start the storyline with Lex on death row trying to take over the universe in _Crisis _we of course quickly see him escape from the death row cell they put him in. If I'm feeling dramatic, I might have him teleport out of the electric chair with some device he rigged up to be powered by old sparky.

"I haven't worked out the details of how Luthor kills his baby sister but it's meant to show he's crossed a moral event horizon. I'll probably have Lex kill her accidentally—Superman will say, 'Lex don't shoot me, you'll hit Leena' and Lex refusing to believe it fires anyway. When he does so and kills her Luthor's response is predictable. 'You did this!' Even so, we all know what this really means, perhaps he cries a bit when he holds his sister's body and perhaps we even feel sorry for him. But neither we nor he can kid ourselves; he's evil… and he knows it.

"In the climax of our first big story, Luthor proves he's evil by destroying New Krypton. His logic is a world for a world; Superman destroyed Lexor so he destroys New Krypton. That's not to say that Superman's kin will be blameless, however. Zod by then has taken power and begun his conquests. He and his armies have already begun his attacks on Earth with Superman forced to choose between two worlds. Only Steve Gerber has ever shown just how terrifying this could actually be; I plan on showing Superman having to bring in the entire Justice League to stop Zod. But when Zod makes his last stand on New Krypton, Superman says, 'I do this alone.'

"Luthor sees all this and knows that with the people of Earth and New Krypton distracted, that this is his chance. Since this is going to be against the backdrop of Zod's invasion, I want to be careful so that Luthor doesn't come across as trying to save the human race. No, Lex wants to blow up the planet and murder every man woman and child there just to make Superman suffer. To show that Lex doesn't care anyone, maybe we see him kill a few—human—civilians as he goes on his way. To show that said people are mostly good, we see them try to help Superman stop Zod and save their world. His lookalike cousin Van-Zee, our original Nightwing, is the perfect person for this.

"I plan to have it climax with an evil against evil brawl between Lex Luthor and General Zod. At first it seems that Zod will win and he boasts that the human's power armor was of no use. Luthor just smiles and says that he never meant to beat him in a hand to hand contest; he only ever meant to delay Zod long enough for the sun around which New Krypton circled to explode. And yes, a device Luthor had earlier planted in that sun activates and the sun goes nova. This, of course, destroys New Krypton and the entire solar system."

Cary Bates stopped to let that sink in. As he saw the somewhat horrified looks on everyone's faces he knew he had achieved the desired effect. "This means two things. The first is that we cement Lex as an enemy worthy of Superman and the entire DC universe. In recent years writers like Maggin have been playing up our man's credentials, saying that he's known throughout the universe as the ultimate hero. For that to work, however, he needs to pick on a bad guy his own size and Lex isn't that big. With the events of recent years, however, and how they'll climax in him blowing up an entire solar system, all this changes. Perhaps as a space opera Dr. Doom, Luthor—who of course survived by teleporting away at the last second—is feared as the universe's ultimate villain, with people well aware that only Superman can save them.

"Secondly, we see Superman give up all hope of saving for Lex. As Maggin here has said, for years we've portrayed Luthor as being a good man at heart who, if things had gone just a little differently, could have been a great man. Our hero knows that and has always felt somewhat guilty for all this. He felt guilty that his just being there drove Luthor mad with jealousy. He felt guilty for destroying the science experiment and thus pushing him over the edge. For the longest time our hero looked at the good deeds Luthor would sometimes do and hold out hope that maybe he would reform.

"No longer. With Lex having turned into a genocidal madman, Superman rejects all hope of ever saving the man who had once been his best friend. There is no more goodness in Lex Luthor. Superman knows this now and that from now between him and his enemy there can be no peace, only war."

_To be concluded…_

**Author's Notes and Replies: Here we have villains and the next update will be Lois and Clark.**

**Please Review**


	6. Ch 4: Truth and Justice

**Chapter Four: Truth, Justice, and the American Way**

**Place: Offices of DC Comics, New York City**

**Year: 1986**

"As the new Superman editor, I plan on seeing Lois and Clark marry."

"What!"

"Are you serious?"

"Everyone knows that they can't marry!"

"And that…!" said Maggin as he punched his palm "is why I'm going to do it."

Julius Schwartz raised an eyebrow. This was going to get interesting.

The DC writers and artists looked at Maggin intently. "Now with all my talk about history and continuity, some of you are surprised that I'm saying this. Don't be. We should never be ashamed of the past but we should never be enslaved to it, either." A few were beginning to nod; they saw what he was trying to say and they listened. "We _gotta_ let our characters grow and change instead of freezing them in place and revering them to death. If we do… all we get are rote drivel stories and characters that are so many clichés.

"It's worth saying that his isn't the first time that someone tried to get the love birds married; Jerry Siegel tried to get them hitched as far back is 1940. He wrote a story where Superman told Lois the secret and the two started working together as a team. DC said no." He shot a dirty look at Schwartz. "The editor of that time and _every_ editor since then said that breaking up the love triangle would kill the drama…"

"Shaddup Magoon and get back to work!"

Magoon... His name was Maggin, how hard was that for Julie to understand... He'd been trying to marry off Lois and Clark since the 1970s but a _certain_ DC higher up had stopped his plans cold every time. For his part, Julie wasn't paying one bit of attention and concentrated on his bean soup. No use remaining bitter, though.

"It will be a great story and think of the free publicity we'll get when the _New York Times_ shouts 'Lois and Superman finally getting married!'" Maggin happily said. "But I want to make it clear that Lois has to fall in love with all of him. We've written a lot of stories about Lois only loving Superman but if we go too far in the other direction and have her love only Clark, she'll either marry a lie or, to make it work, we run the risk of turning Superman into a weakling Clark with powers."

Carmine Infantino drummed his figure on the table. "That's the reason that when Broome and I created Elongated Man we gave him no secret identity. It makes marriage a whole lot easier."

Maggin narrowed his eyes. "Well, he isn't Superman, is he?"

Schwartz growled, "I don't want no squabbles. Get back to the story Magoon."

"Yes sir," he sighed. He cleared his throat. "I imagine Lois possibly falling in love with Clark and being shocked to learn that he really is Superman. We did a dry run with that in an Earth Two story that showed how that Superman married his Lois. He lost his memory and with no memory of why he should be a coward lets himself be a manly Clark that steals Lois' heart."

He touched his hand to his chin. "Or she falls in love with Clark and shocks him by saying that she knows he really is Superman. There was one issue of _Superman's Girlfriend:_ _Lois Lane_ that covered this; it was way back in the sixties." He waved his hand to make his point. "The cover shows Lois and Lana gasping as Clark storms into the room where they're in saying he'd never marry a girl so dumb that she couldn't figure out he's Superman."

Maggin heard laughter from the people at the conference. "Alright, Alright! We've had our fun, that's enough!" Belying that he started laughing himself "…Aw man that is funny!" He wiped away a tear. "…Like I was saying, that's how the cover is but when they get to that part of the story we see that the girls gasped because of his opening the door. Annoyed, Lois just rolls her eyes and goes back to playing cards. Lana is confused and says that she and Lois have always known that he's Superman, even if they've never been able to prove it. With that, she and Lois go back to playing cards."

"What!?" exclaimed George Perez. "Are you serious?!"

The Superman editor smiled as he saw the look on Perez' face and on the faces of everyone there. "Serious but back to the topic. We could say that in our new modified continuity, it opens with Lois already knowing that Clark is Superman. Like I said, all through the Silver Age, she always knew the secret, she just never proved it. In recent years, Bates and I played it down but we could bring it back. This time, however, she's not trying to force him out in the open or force him into marrying her. So for example, Lois says 'Superman, Perry has this newspaper assignment for you.' Or, "Clark I just heard that there's a monster on the loose; your Justice League friends needs you.'

"Superman keeps telling her he's not Clark but by then, it's clear to him that he's only fooling himself," Maggin sighed. "Commitment… It's something we men just can't take." He shrugged his shoulders and went back to the story. "Anyways, when our guy tells her that he isn't the big hero, she unbuttons his shirt revealing the costume beneath and he doesn't even try to stop her. By now, he's just trying to keep her from getting close. As to _why_ he's doing that at all, we always said that he was afraid that if his enemies ever found that there was a Mrs. Superman they would target her in revenge." Maggin shook his head and smiled. How he clever he was to put two and two together!

"While that is true, we learn that Superman's mantra is only part of the reason. You see, while getting ready for this meeting, I talked with the copyboy Mark Plaid here." The copyboy was irked by the mispronunciation of his name but didn't let it show. "We were chatting and I figured out that…" Mark Plaid, or whatever his real name was, was even more irked; it had been was _his_ idea… "if Superman's current continuity starts in 1958 with Mort Weisinger's tenure as editor, than it was only a few years after his parent's death when he least identified with his Clark Kent identity and most rejected the idea of a romance with Lois.

"… See, I'm thinking that with his powers Superman will effectively live forever while Lois grows old and dies." The people there were surprised when they saw Maggin's shoulders slump and a haggard look come across his face. "The worst part is that he knows it. By now he's lost Ma and Pa, Perry White, Supergirl, and now New Krypton. He's afraid of what will happen if he marries Lois; he can't bear the thought of grieving like that again. He's lost so much… he's afraid to marry Lois because he doesn't want to lose her too.

"After months worth of stories, or even years with all we can plot from this, he realizes that he's made the same mistake he made when his father died: on seeing fear, he gave in and gave up. Then he remembers what he said when he reached that epiphany; feeling sorry for yourself is a job for Superboy and Superboy isn't coming back. He admits to Lois that it is all true and that he will marry her.

"They both know it won't be easy." Maggin looked away. "…even if they manage to build their lives around his superhero schedule, even if they find a way around the fact that they'll never have children, even if they keep the secret from everyone, even if they live happily ever after, he knows that he will have to remain young and strong will she withers up and dies." The writer turned editor felt a lump in his throat. "He knows for a fact that if he marries her, the day will come when he will once again lose someone he loves and that his heart will be broken.

With a sad voice, Maggin said, "He chooses to let his heart be broken." He looked across at the other writers; they had the same lump in their throats too. "Their love may not be easy but love isn't about being easy. They will find a way."

For a time, everyone was silent; nobody moved, nobody breathed. Someone coughed. For a moment, Maggin worried if he had gone too far in his storytelling but that's when Julius Schwartz got up and clapped, that's when they all got up from their seats and gave their cheers.

"There's nothing that wrong in continuity that can't be fixed by what's right with continuity," said the grand old had been ruthless in demanding perfection from the boy but from this and everything else, he knew his constant testing had worked. He was the one! "They call be B.O. Schwartz, Be Original Schwartz for a reason. Magoon, I once said that if you or Bates ever came up with truly original ideas that I'd be giving you my job." He glanced at the folder next to his chair and smiled as he remembered one story where the punks had him guess star in an issue of _Justice League._ He still remembered laughing when he saw the "other" Schwartz say those exact words. "Maggin, I'm a man of my word. You're the editor now and I wouldn't want anyone else to be it. Marry those two off Elliot; its time."

Maggin never thought that the old man (old curmudgeon) would say this. Schwarts actually remembered his name! "Wow…" He looked at the blushing Bates and wiped away a tear. "Thanks sir."

Schwartz smirked. "Don't thank me yet. My days at DC are almost over but I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. Do you have anything else to say on your Superman ideas?"

"Yeah…" drawled Denny O'Neil. "What about Superman's power level? Are you gonna take him down a peg?"

"Oy vey…" Maggin couldn't help but purse his lips on hearing that. Way to take a man down from his cloud O'Neil. "In terms of Superman's power, Bates and I don't plan decreasing it." He remembered how O'Neil had tried to that very same thing back in 1971. "He's Superman. He's the biggest hero of them all and that means he should be the most powerful. We've see him picking up planets and outmuscling black holes and I plan on taking it to the next level by saying he breaks the absolute limit. That is to say, his strength is sufficient to move weight and mass equal to all the matter in the universe."

O'Neil groaned. "Then what's the point!?" Here they were trying to retool their old characters and they were just making the same mistakes… "If he's that strong then how can you possibly gave him any kind of challenge?"

Maggin narrowed his eyes and said, "He has that challenge because he's that strong. This isn't anybody else this is Superman! With him we have the chance to do something we can't do with any other hero. Everybody already knows he's stronger than anyone so that means his only limits are self imposed limits.

"C'mon think of it. If he really is that strong and if he really is that good, why then does anything bad happen at all? Wouldn't he try to stop everything bad from happening?" Maggin sheepishly grinned. "…That's not a job for Superman, that's a job for God." He scratched the back of his neck. "We have of course addressed this before but it only makes sense if our guy is in fact so powerful that we really would ask that. His problems shouldn't be about power it should be about dilemmas."

O'Neil laughed. "Ok, ok, I surrender! I see your point."

Jenette Kahn asked, "Bates, Maggin, have you given any thought as to how you'll show Superman using his power."

"I'll take this Elliot!" said a grinning Cary Bates. "The boss here had the ideas for this and I'm the one to make the nitty gritty. I know that with the strength we give Superman, giving him a good fight is tough. If we play it straight and have him go in full power, he'd save the day in fifteen seconds… so the way to give him a good fight is for him not to not use his full power."

Kahn's eyes went wide at that. "… and why would Superman deliberately choose not to use his full power?"

"Because on top of wielding that much power, he still tries to be good. If we really do decide to let Superman be that strong—and we have decided that—then he's a giant trying to live in a dollhouse, a god in full glory trying not to destroy a world made out of soap bubbles." Bates looked at the people there and smiled. "Have you thought about just how many stories that could give us! Think about it! What would it be like to be an ordinary boy and wake up one morning, realizing that he'll to have to spend the rest of your life in a straight jacket because if he loses control even for a second somebody would die? Brilliant!

"Again, he should use full power only rarely; in your average fight with Metallo, he doesn't want to use a planet smasher light speed punch for fear of killing Metallo and the entire population of Metropolis. Thus he gets thrown around a bit to build up drama before finishing the fight." He stroked his chin. "In fact, I was thinking of writing it so that we don't see him use his full power for a few months maybe even the first year so that people might think that we've powered him down. Playing into this, we plan on making Superman the only Kryptonian that strong; for example, in the Zod and New Krypton arc we see that the average Kryptonian can only lift mountains or maybe even just very large buildings.

"Thus when he has to use full power both the readers and the villain he'd been facing are shocked to see just how strong Superman really is…" Bates smiled as images of Superman fighting gods and cosmic beings and universe destroying titans entered his head. If they ever brought back the Anti-Monitor, he knew who was going to challenge him to a planet—no, galaxy smashing!—fight. "Oh, I can't want to write this!"

"…And I think that's pretty much it, right Elliot?" asked Julius Schwartz.

The editor nodded sagely. "That's pretty much it. I was thinking that at the Daily Planet/WGBS, there should be a shakeup. We've had Perry White suffering Alzheimer's so maybe when he retires, Clark asks boss Morgan Edge if he can leave being a TV reporter at WGBS and go back to the Daily Planet full time, maybe as the new editor." He looked away somewhat sadly. "I want to give a proper send off to my character Kirsten Wells AKA Superwoman. With _Crisis_ and what not, I suppose she should give up her name and title to Clark saying only Kara Zor-El, who saved the world, can call herself Superwoman. Superman, motivated by grief and anger, might be slightly more aggressive. I could say that his costume isn't indestructible, merely very durable. It would be a nice visual to see his costume can get torn if he fights a strong enough opponent. Aside from that, that's it."

Schwartz shook and his head and chuckled. "This is going to be a wild ride... Magoon." He heard a groan but he ignored it as he took a sip of water. "Who's next?"

"That's me," said Denny O'Neil.

**Author's Notes and Replies: The preferred title is "Truth, Justice, and the American Way" but it couldn't fit into the heading.**

**Anyways, Superman's is done for now but the universe is only just begun. Next is Batman!**

**Sir Thames: Once again thank you for your kind words.**

"**Anonymous": I know we might not agree on everything but I know we can agree on Lex Luthor.**

**In the wake of **_**Crisis on Infinite Earths**_**, Luthor was an evil business man, usefulness in terms of creating jobs and prosperity aside, had no redeeming values. This was a stark departure from the pre-**_**Crisis**_** Luthor who, as a young man, only ever wanted to help people but turned to sick jealousy when people rejected him to look at Superboy. Through the Silver Age and Bronze Age, there was always some goodness in Luthor—Maggin wrote him as having never directly killed anyone and even throwing away chances to escape Superman in order to save innocent people. Planet Lexor shows quite clearly what could have been if we had just given Lex a chance.**

**When the 2000s rolled around, DC started combining the best aspects of both eras to create a hybrid Luthor, something of which I heartily approve. (I just happen to have a soft spot for the space opera Luthor of mid-1980s. ****)**

**As for Braniac, I'm just following Marv Wolfman's lead. In the story Wolfman wrote, Braniac had a vision of the "Master Programmer" and declared himself "His" enemy. I mention this because it was a fine story and, with how it so successfully revived Braniac without any retcons, it ties into this story's theme: there is nothing wrong with continuity that can't be fixed by what's right with continuity.**


	7. Ch 5: The Dark Knight

**For Bob Kane and, yes, Bill Finger, for teaching us that we need not fear the night.**

**Chapter Five: The Dark Knight**

**Place: Offices of DC Comics, New York City**

**Year: 1986**

"Hey everyone, my name is Denny O'Neil and I worked as Batman's chief writer before leaving for Marvel!" The liberal nearly jumped when he saw the dirty looks he was receiving from the longtime DC writers. "…But, uh…" These guys must have voted for Reagan! "…But," he cleared his throat, "of course that's all behind me now since I've come back." The DC partisans smiled. He shook his head. There was loyalty but this was ridiculous…

O'Neil cleared the small plate from the table—it had been a good meal, he was going to have learn the name of whoever had made those bagels—and pulled out a small folder. "I have ideas and a chief writer to make them work—Frank Miller." An unshaven black clad man merely nodded. "What I don't have is a huge reboot like Maggin and Bates have planned because Batman isn't broke and doesn't need fixing. It could have been very different, though."

The editor pulled out a comic book to show a silhouetted Batman crouching on a wire with a lightning bolt flashing behind him. "Miller's _Dark Knight Returns_… He and Steve Gerber are reason we're here doing this conference in the first place." O'Neil gave thumbs up in "Stainless" Steve Gerber's direction. When, however, he saw that the man did not respond he sighed. Not surprising with what happened to Steve's idea.

"The two of them pitched three interlocking reboots for the Trinity. Gerber would have written the Wonder Woman title, _Amazon_, Miller would have written the Batman title, _Dark Knight_, and the both of them would have collaborated on Superman's reboot, _Man of Steel_." A crestfallen look came across the Batman editor's face. "However, publisher and president Jenette Kahn made it clear that she was going to accept a lot of proposals for revamps for the big three and then pick her favorite."

He cast a pitying look at the man. "Sorry Steve."

He looked away and crossed his arms. "Save your sympathy for someone it'll do some good."

O'Neil hated seeing Gerber like this… Working for somebody else meant you didn't always get what you wanted but acting like a pouty child? "Well at least your idea of a joint reboot got picked. I… I mean if we have a joint reboot and we can coordinate things right?"

Gerber rolled his eyes. "Yeah I guess I can be glad about that," he grumbled. O'Neil just didn't get it. It wasn't just that half his ideas were being tossed aside but that Genghis, oops, he meant _Jenette_ Kahn was stealing the other half… That's when a Cheshire cat grin spread across his face. "Glad as I'll be when Kahn there says that if, say for example, I create a new Supergirl I can own part of it."

Miller saw a grimly silent Kahn narrowing her gaze at Gerber and knew what would happen next if he didn't step in. "C'mon Steve! Maybe we didn't get it all but at least we got this much." He saw no response… other than nervous glances cast at the now angry boss lady. Great, now Gerber realizes he bit off more than he could chew! "Man up already… If you don't like this little meeting you can just come back tomorrow."

The tension was thick enough to cut with the proverbial knife for a while. It was Kahn who finally broke the silence. "I thank we've wasted enough time on this distraction." Turning away from the writer, she turned to the new Batman editor. "O'Neil, what is that you were saying before we were sidelined?"

Thank God! Miller saw that a very grateful off the hook Gerber let out a sigh of relief and flashed him a very grateful smile. "Thanks Frank!" he whispered. Miller wasn't impressed. He saved Steve's neck this time. That didn't mean he'd be able to do it next time.

O'Neil, on the other hand, ignored all this and answered his publisher's question. "Of course, Miss Kahn," he said. For a time I considered bigger changes based on Frank Miller's _Dark Knight Returns_ but in the end I thought no." A stoic Miller simply nodded his assent on hearing his editor's pronouncement. O'Neil was impressed; his chief writer was apparently serious about manning up when you didn't get your way.

"There's a reason I'm going to be careful about what I do and do not incorporate from that story. _DKR_ imagines Batman as a cross between Mussolini and cage match wrestler. He's little better than the freaks he brings in and spends most of his time fighting honest cops. He even gets into a shootout with Joker in the middle of a civilian crowd and tries to murder the clown in cold blood. When he can't, a self loathing Batman thinks to himself that he isn't killer and wishes he was." O'Neil closed his eyes and shook his head. "That scene sums up every reason we should be wary about that version of Batman."

The editor paused to let that sink in. "_DKR_ doesn't imagine our guy as a hero but as a burned out psycho who has nothing left but his self righteous crusade. The only defense of his actions is that he is Nietzsche's ubermensch, that good and evil don't apply to him. **Think about it**!" The people there in room with O'Neil jumped at the man's shout. "When you stop and ask yourself what it would be like if it were real, you know that most everyone in this room would be rooting for him to be taken down! **Right!?**"

On noticing the looks on their faces, O'Neil waited for his breathing to get back to normal before he continued. He spared a glance and saw the stone faced Miller sitting emotionlessly. Considering what he was going to say next, he hoped that was a good thing. "Miller said that in writing his story, that he wanted to go back to the beginning but Batman's creator said 'I fail to see what a woman with swastikas emblazoned on her bare buttocks has anything to do with Batman.' The man is supposed to be someone that you can look up to, not someone you should be running in fear of. No offense Frank."

O'Neil turned to face his partner… and saw an unnerving, predatory smile creep across Miller's face. "None taken," he said. With that, the rattled editor remembered how Miller had a grinning Batman listen to a wolf howl and think, "I know how he feels." Spooky!

Getting away, the new editor returned to the topic at hand. "People have to know that even if Batman is a black angel, he's not a fallen angel, and that whatever else happens, he's a friend. For example, we see Batman talk to a priest about a drug lord whose son is missing. After the obligatory action scenes, Batman drags the crime boss to a rehab clinic. And, when the boss declines to go in there, he punches the wall so hard that plaster falls from the roof. The intimidated man goes in but is horrified to see his son in a hospital bed and asks his ex-wife who did this. She tells him to look in the mirror because it was his drugs that did this. After meeting his priest brother, the remorseful villain decides to do the right thing and turns himself in. Batman sees this…and smiles."

O'Neil passed out drawings of the Dark Knight from various time periods. "It's tempting to change everything when given the chance but temptation is just something you gotta fight. Batman shouldn't change because, when you think about it, his golden age adventures can still be on the books. For example, back in the 1940s it made sense to see Wonder Woman fight Nazis. Now that we're in 1985, however, we have to say that it was the Wonder Woman of another dimen—!"

"Not even that, ya'dope" interrupted Schwartz. "Remember, we're just got rid of the infinite Earths."

The old man _is_ a bear, thought O'Neil. "Right Mr. Schwartz… What I'm saying is that if you compress all Batman stories into, say, ten years, you get the life story of a man. Just think of what Batman comics in the 30s showed. He's just finished his training and returned to Gotham, all full of hate and spending half his time fighting cops. In the 40s, however, Gordon sees him in action and makes him a deputy and, after getting Robin, he cleans up his act. In confronting Joe Chill, his parents' killer, and then Lew Moxon, the man who ordered the hit, he finds JFK's magic bullet and with it, peace.

"With the 50s and early 60s, Batman has the best years in his life." A smiling O'Neil then passed out some Silver Age comics. "Joker stops killing. Catwoman and Two-Face reform. Gotham turns bright and neon colored like Vegas—and develops a fad for giant props! Nobody dies and with his little buddy next to him, our guy fights crime as much for the thrill of it as he does for helping people. With Batwoman as the mom, Robin and Batgirl as the kids, Alfred as the grandpa, and Ace as the dog, the orphan has found a family." He waved one issue and gleefully said, "Look at this cover, the man is grinning ear to ear!

"However, when the 70s come around," the editor sighed, "Robin leaves and Batwoman dies proving that the happy days are over. Gotham gets dirty and dismal again. Graffiti appears on walls and stores marked XXX appear; whatever they are they don't look good. Two-Face turns back to evil and, to a degree so does Catwoman. Joker even starts killing again. His old sidekick renounces his own name, he breaks up with Superman, and even quits the Justice League."

The editor scratched the back of his head and sadly said, "…We haven't been kind to him in recent years."

"But," said a smiling O'Neil as he emphatically touched a finger to the table, "we can use this. After finishing his training, Batman returns to Gotham and vows to clean up his town. His get tough attitude was what Gotham needed but when he sees people smiling and leaving their doors unlocked, he eases up. It's the worst mistake Batman ever makes because when he eases up, the punks he drove into the shadows return and Gotham goes straight back into the gutter. He blames himself for going soft with all the ribbon cuttings and dinners he attended and swears that he won't make that mistake again. We can thus keep both happy Batman and grumpy Batman on the books with no retconing and tell a good story while doing it." O'Neil sat down and turned to Miller. "Frank, it's your turn."

"Right." Frank Miller cleared his throat. "Me and Denny've talked and we've wondered who raised Bruce after his parents died. The official line is that Leslie Thompkins took him in but that he was adopted by his uncle Philip Wayne. Since he was always working, housekeeper Alice Chilton looked after Bruce. She was Joe Chill's mother. Alfred came years later when Bruce and even Dick were already superheroes." Miller waved his hand. "Screw it. Alfred does a better job as Bruce's dad. I'll get rid of Phillip Wayne but who cares. And we thought what if we combined Thompkins and Alice Chilton? That's more O'Neil's idea than mine. Denny?"

"Thanks Frank. Now, I created Leslie but since she and Alice are both surrogate mothers to Bruce, why not merge them? That, however, raises the question of Joe Chill. In telling Batman's origin, Bob Kane and Bill Finger said the Waynes' killer was some nameless punk but in 1948's _Batman_ #47, our man finds him, Joe Chill. He tells him, 'I know you killed Bruce Wayne's family because I am Bruce Wayne!' Chill panics and seeks protection from his henchmen but they gun him down when they learn he created Batman. Frank Miller ignored all this in _Dark Knight_ to say it was random mugging but for the most part we shouldn't get rid of Chill." As for Miller himself, he just grumbled. "We might even imagine a story early in Batman's career…

"In Leslie's clinic, Chill tells her he has a job and she's glad for it. But when he tells her that he has enough money for her to leave the slums, she gets worried and asks how he got so much so fast. When he doesn't answer she knows it's from something bad and throws the money to the ground. When Chill picks it up, Leslie burns it, saying that half the people in her clinic are there from the drugs he sold them. She shoves him out the door and she, Alice 'Leslie' Thompkins—married name Alice 'Leslie' Chilton—, cries for her son."

"This is crazy…"

"What?"

"Is he serious!?"

"Dead serious," muttered Miller at the people's outburst.

O'Neil looked at the shocked faces looking back at him. "Yes Leslie Thompkins, the woman who embraced little Bruce the night his parents were killed, and Joe Chill, the killer, are mother and son. She was married to Mr. Chill but it was an unhappy marriage that produced only one child, Joe. After Leslie's husband left, she took odd jobs and wound up as Bruce's nanny, becoming a good friend to Dr. Wayne, wife Martha, and Alfred. He helped her get her medical degree. About this time Joe ran away from home and tragically drifts into crime becoming no better and somewhat worse than his deadbeat father.

"Leslie has two sons and they're Cain and Abel. After a young Joe Chill kills Bruce's parents, Leslie effectively adopts the boy and does her best to give him some morals. She doesn't want him to grow up like Joe. Thus she's opposed to him being a super hero with all the fighting and such… but she's so proud of her boy for all the good he's done. As for her other boy, she doesn't know that he killed Bruce's parents. She keeps in touch with him, asking him to leave crime behind him and to reform but while he still loves her deep down inside, she's lost him.

"Back in the present we see Chill accidentally shoot her in front of Batman thus leaving him with his spirit broken and wallowing in self pity. As she lies dying in her own hospital, he asks himself, 'How much good can one man do anyways? How much longer will it be before I die… and who will it be that kills me? Joker, Two-Face or just some punk that get's lucky?' After figuring out that Chill is also his parents' killer, however, Batman tells Robin to stay behind for this one. He says, 'This is MY fight.'

"He gets a lead on Chill and when he finally does find him, he says 'I know you killed Bruce Wayne's family because I am Bruce Wayne!' With that, Chill, who's already traumatized by what he did, albeit accidentally to his mother, panics. He runs and asks his minions for protection, saying that Batman's after him for having killed his family; that, in fact, is the reason the man became a vigilante. And of course when the henchmen find out that their boss created their worst enemy, they go crazy and shoot him on the spot.

"When it's all over, Bruce goes to see Leslie who does recover from the gunshot wound but who might never recover from learning that one son left the other an orphan. With a broken heart, she buries her son. Bruce is next to his foster mother and, with a tear for his brother, lays a rose on Chill's grave."

O'Neil smiled. "So what do you think?" He was pleased to see nods and thumbs up and more pleased by what he heard.

"Alright!"

"It could work…"

"Good idea!"

"Chill out!"

O'Neil winced at that pun but let himself smile nonetheless. "Thanks guys. Now, I want to say something about Superman." Batman's editor paused for a moment before looking straight at Superman's editor. "Y'know Maggin… this isn't on my agenda and I never would it brought it up if it hadn't been for what you said in your Superman presentation." Elliot S. Maggin focused intently O'Neil's words. "Yeah, Superman is more Batman's friend than the other way around but it could work."

Maggin was surprised at this; he had a bit of bad blood for the lousy Superman stories O'Neil wrote in the 70s. Still if this was in good faith, he knew what Man of Steel would do. "Alright Denny." He smiled. "How could it work?"

The editor nodded and smiled back. "Unlike what Miller says, Superman doesn't say yes to everyone with a badge or—"

"Wait right there!" interrupted Miller. "I never said that. Read _Dark Knight_, Batman said that and, no, I am not being unfair; I let Superman explain things from his own point of view!"

"Alright I'm sorry…" O'Neil rubbed his temples and knew he was going to need aspirin. Why couldn't it have gone as smoothly as Maggin's talks? "Fine Frank, _your_ Batman said that. And yes, Superman once asked, if you can't trust the president who can you trust, but in 1971 I wrote a story where Superman breaks the law to save some people from an exploding volcano. He said something like, 'I did it _because_ I'm a lawman; moral law trumps any and all manmade law.' I can't remember the exact issue but the point is if Superman has to choose between what's legal and what's right, then God damn America, he's going to do what's right. The law versus justice debate is a canard; the two men might use different paths but they get the same conclusion." O'Neil looked at Maggin and was pleased to see a smug smirk on the man's face.

"They're the odd couple?" O'Neil dismissively waved his hand. "So what? Let them be the odd couple. We could show that Superman is the only superhero left that Batman trusts and calls friend. If his relationship with the superhero community has soured since he quit the Justice League, it's because he looks at Joe superhero as a well meaning but undisciplined amateur. But when he looks at Superman, he sees someone who trained for thirteen years before moving to the big leagues. And with how Maggin's keeping Jon Kent's death on the books, they both share the same pain of having lost their fathers."

"Really?" asked a pleased Elliot S! Maggin. "You're going to do that?"

"Yeah, if the boss here gives the ok."

As for the boss, she just smiled. "I give the ok. You two got some good ideas there. Very good…" Kahn had never made it a secret that her favorite DC character was the Dark Knight. It made her glad to see her employees working together and if they could both make it sync up… "Tell you what, guys," she told O'Neil and Maggin, "with that long Superman presentation a lot of us are bushed. O'Neil words on you-know-who didn't lighten the load either. Why don't the rest of us take a short break while the two of you finish comparing notes?"

The two men smiled and said, "Right!"

_To be concluded… _

**Author Notes and Replies:**

**Sir Thames: Glad to have you back. As for seeing Batman, you got your wish. ;-)**

"**Anonymous": I'll gladly answer your questions! As to why more villains don't acquire wealth legally, I already explained why in the Superman section. ****1961's **_**Action Comics**_** #277 had Lex Luthor return the gold he stole from Fort Knox because the Superman he had defeated in the process was a robot. Since the gold was supposed to symbolize a victory over Superman, it's become worthless. Most all writers say that if a villain doesn't use his power for legal get rich quick schemes, he's not motivated by money but for some other reason.**

**When I wrote about Superman's strength, I thought of Elliot S! [I hear you Mark Mark ;-) ] Maggin's ideas in writing Superman is that the El family was the greatest in Krypton's history. In fact, in his **_**Superman**_** Vol. 1 #257 the Guardians realize that if Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van married, "the merging of their genetic backgrounds would produce an offspring of an incomparable nature." With the right training, their child "would stride like a Titan among the stars." They hoped to be the ones to train baby Kal-El but after Krypton blew up and he became Superman on Earth, the Guardians realized that he need not be a Green Lantern for "genetically perfect and totally without fear—the last son of Krypton's greatest line… he truly strides like a Titan among the stars!"**

**MarkMark: Welcome! As for being "nitpicky" it's alright. There's no meanness in your voice and I appreciate that you're trying to help. **** As for a few errors and anachronisms… *insert anime sweat drop* I guess I spent more time working on reboots than on the framing story!**

**It's for reason, not need, that I choose tragedy. I first learned of our hero from 1978's **_**Superman: The Movie**_** and a scene that always touched me was the death of Pa Kent. Clark had been unsure of what to do with his life but failing to save his father, despite his power, so shook him that he began a journey that ended with his becoming Superman. Bottom line, it provides for a good story and shows that he isn't a "Mary Sue" by showing that he too has had his own cross to bear.**

**As for Frank Miller's proposed reboot of DC's big three… just wait! Alan Moore, Paul Levitz, and Dick Giordano will all make appearances and I imagine Krypto's still out there. Supergirl does get a lot of text for someone who'll just stay dead but, as comic book historian Alan Kistler said, "****while Barry is still remembered as the martyr of the **_**Crisis**_**, since Kara was taken out of continuity, none of the heroes remember her heroic sacrifice. Hell, DOVE's death is remembered, but not Supergirl's. And that's tragic." **** 2005/10/alan-kistlers-guide-to-the-crisis-conclusion/**

**I say all this MarkMark because even if a hero is gone, she should not be forgotten. And who knows, maybe she could come back someday! [And in "real" life she of course has!] That's all for now and all I have to say is on with the show! Hope you like. **


	8. Ch 6: Dynamic Duos

**Chapter Six: Dynamic Duos**

**Place: Offices of DC Comics, New York City**

**Year: 1986**

O'Neil gathered his papers as he saw people nod or shake their heads. He was on a roll! Now to the next part… it was going to be so good! "Another thing that I've been keeping to myself is the idea that Batman should be an urban legend." He saw the confused glances people threw at him and nervously scratched the back of his head. But, but everyone up until then had agreed… They were supposed to be smiling… "I, um, want to do an urban legend Batman."

Screwing up his courage, he said, "My idea is that he is nobody even believes he exists. His Justice League career isn't on the books. In all the years he's been a superhero, nobody has managed to take his picture and there have never been any reliable eyewitnesses. And no, those lunatics over at Arkham don't count. It all adds a sense of mystery to what should be a mysterious character. If criminals are a cowardly, superstitious lot, then they are going to run when they see the boogeyman is real. What do you think?" a hopeful O'Neil asked.

He grew a little worried when he looked around and saw that the still silent staff of DC Comics were just twiddling their thumbs or shuffling papers. One guy coughed. "Guys?"

Frank Miller slowly turned in his seat to face his erstwhile boss. "Denny?"

"Yeah Frank?"

"Do you really want to know what I think of that?"

The editor smiled. "Of course."

Miller frowned. "I say it's stupid!

A shocked O'Neil's jaw just dropped. "Wha-what?! What are you talking about Frank?"

Batman's chief writer just face-palmed. What was he talking about…? "Denny, its bad enough you think of something that dumb, you go and blab about it in front of everybody else! Maybe everyone else is too 'nice' to point this out to you but I'm not. Good God, first you say that Batman went soft by doing _public_ charity events, then you say that nobody believes he exists… You could've at least told me before all this and I could've saved you the humiliation!"

"Frank I…" He looked at the people there and saw that there were indeed looks of uncertainty and doubt. Uncertainty and dead silence… Great, someone might as well start playing the chirping cricket sound effect music. "All right, everyone maybe I didn't think this out so much."

Kahn looked at Miller. "You say it can't work. Would you care to explain why?"

Miller nodded and in a rare display of empathy placed his hand on O'Neil's shoulder. "It's like this boss lady. If Batman's mysterious and nobody knows anything about him, fine. He doesn't give interviews and he doesn't smile for the cameras, at least not anymore. Some people even ask if he has superpowers or if he's a robot or if there's more than one Batman and Commissioner Gordon has them like some kind of SWAT team. Hey… Hey you!" Miller snapped his fingers. "Didn't you write a story like this once?"

Frank Robbins sighed. Was it too much to ask Miller to know people's names? "Yeah," he muttered, "it was called 'The Batman nobody knows.' A bunch of street kids are trading their Batman stories and each story is completely different."

"Whatever," Miller said dismissively. "So yeah, people not knowing anything about Batman can work but not people believing he's not real. It could only work for his first year because in all the years since then somebody's got to have seen the Batmobile going down Gotham streets.

"And this is the DCU for crying out loud!" He reached for some drawings from the nearest stack before continuing. "Are we really going to believe that in a world where…" He paused and briefly examined the drawings. "…where the greatest hero is an alien, time lost knights of King Arthur's court ride flying horses, where Atlantis is a member of the UN, where talking gorillas say _Planet of the Apes_ is racist, and where vigilantes run around in clown outfits, that people would think that Batman couldn't possibly exist? In the long run, Batman as urban legend could only work if the story was set in the first year or is he were the only superhero in the world and all the others are in comic books. That way people realistically could say, 'no way, it can't be true, it's just an urban legend.'

"In fact, even if we did that, the idea that he's just an urban legend still can't work and here's why. In _Dark Knight_, in my story, everyone knew it was Batman when he came back. Whether you were for Batman or against him, you couldn't ignore him. He was 'too big.' He was… the ubermensch." O'Neil just rolled his eyes at his grinning writer. "And that's the point! When asked about it, Commissioner Gordon said that there was at least a dozen other ways to get Batman's attention, all of them less obvious than the bat-signal. No, he said, the reason that he was lighting up half the sky was so that they would know, so that they would _all_ know."

"So they'd all know…" DC's editor-in-chief said thoughtfully. Now she knew that Julie Schwartz was right to call this meeting. "Frank, you're a good man. Keep this up and I'll have you be the editor instead of O'Neil." When she saw the worried look on the (current) editor's face, however, she mischievously smiled. "Don't worry Denny, you still got your job… for know at least."

She changed gears. "Alright, we've talked about the heroes Frank, what about the villains? What new villains are you going to make or what old ones will you revitalize?"

Miller threw a disinterested look at his erstwhile boss. "No drastic alterations. As for, say, Penguin and Two-Face, I might retell their origins here and there but nothing major. Except maybe Mr. Freeze… lots of people know about him from the TV show but right now, he's a benchwarmer. Maybe a half dozen other villains have his cold gimmick. Somebody's going to have to give him a major overhaul like giving him a real tear jerker origin to make him work. I'm going to have Joker the same as in my stories, a crazy clown whose only purpose is fighting Batman. Remember how he was in a coma for years and only woke up after learning that Batman had returned? Same deal."

Jenette Kahn raised an eyebrow; O'Neil and Miller weren't joking when they said that Batman would have no major revamp.

"No origin, eh?" That's when they all turned and looked at the most… disturbing man in comics. Clad in ripped jeans and magical charms, Alan Moore grinned a puckish grin through a bearded face and started tapping the desk with a pen. "Miller you have no origin planned for Joker?"

The man looked blankly back at Moore. "No."

"Good." Moore continued tapping with the pen. "Very good," he gleefully said. "The clown has never had a real origin, has he? To the extent that anyone has ever given him an origin at all, it was just some fellow with in a hood falls into a vat of acid, pulls off his hood and he's turned into Joker. Isn't that so?" He saw Miller nod. "Excellent…"

Kahn was confused. "Alan," she said as she shifted in her chair, "I don't get it. Why shouldn't Joker get an origin story and stop being a blank slate?"

Moore grinned. He tapped the pen. "Because you ask yourself why has he been a blank slate for so long and no, because the earlier writers are too lazy to give a proper origin doesn't count. As it stands, he has no origin and for all we know he kills for no reason other than that it's Tuesday." He stopped tapping the pen. "And that's the reason why he can't have an origin!"

A knowing smile spread across O'Neil's face. He understood what Moore was saying. "Joker," said the writer, "is madness itself and so can have no origin. If he has a name he's a just a man but withhold the name he's a monster. Who says he can't have just popped out of thin air. Maybe he did! At most, I'll have Joker think about a failed comedian driven mad by the death of his wife and son but refuse to tell us if that's his past, saying instead that he prefers it to be multiple choice."

"Life's just one big joke to the clown then," stated O'Neil.

Moore smiled. "It's the killing joke." He looked at Schwartz and said, "Julie, this scheme of yours just might work. Just because I plan to murder you sometimes…"

The grand old man saw people staring at him and the writer and so he shrugged his shoulders. "When I had the idea to have my last Superman story written as if it really were the last Superman story," he sheepishly said, "Moore here said he'd kill me if I let anyone else do it."

"And I would have too!" said the eccentric Englishman. "Julie here had the right idea because you only fix things if they're broken and neither Batman nor any of our other characters are broken. Just look at what we can do with Joker! Don't change the past, build on it! If things had gone differently I'd be writing a Batman lookalike called Professor Night, a Wonder Woman lookalike called Glory and a Superman lookalike called Supreme just to show—"

"Alan!" snapped Jenette Kahn, "If you want to work with Denny and Frank, fine, but no more of this. Got it?" He seemingly acquiesced to her demands but she drew no comfort from the man's Guy Fawkes grin. Great Rao, she felt more like a babysitter than an editor sometimes… "Miller, Moore has some Joker ideas. Are there plans for Catwoman?"

He nodded. "They've tried taming Catwoman in recent years and have had her and Bruce go on dates. Batman even had Robin go on missions with her so that he could get to know 'mom.' Catwoman as mom of the bat-family…" Miller frowned—or in his case frowned some more. "Maybe she's no killer but that's going a bit too far.

"I'm planning _Batman Year One_ which'll talk about his first year. Part of this will be Selina Kyle." Miller passed out drawings from _Dark Knight_ and some other ones by the tentative _Year One_ artist. One set of drawings showed an old, bloated Kyle with pink hair and makeup plastered over her face, the other set had a much younger Kyle wearing a black bra, a mini skirt, and little else as she loitered on a dirty street corner. "Selina will be a prostitute who heard of Batman and copied the idea of a costume and name; her friend will be a child whore named Holly. It foreshadows _Dark Knight Returns_ where she runs—"

An outraged Schwartz slammed his fist on the table and shot up. "Wait! We can't do that! Selina should have too much dignity…" He clenched and unclenched his fist, letting his anger cool before speaking again. "You can do it if it's a one shot like in _Dark Knight_ or _Watchmen_ but not if it's going to be regular continuity story. After all, it's… it's for the kids!"

Miller's eyebrows arched up. "Says who?"

The grand old man of DC Comics shot him a withering glare at the man. "Says you. Says the child you once were when you bought that first comic book."

He sighed. "Alright Julie, fine. Maybe she just _pretended_ to be a hooker to rob the Johns of their money. Does anyone have any other Catwoman ideas," he grumbled, "ones that _won't_ be censored?"

The curmudgeon saw Denny O'Neil his hand. "Yeah, what is it?"

"Um, y'know I have some ideas about what we can do with Selina." He should, he was supposed to be the editor, wasn't he?

"What are they?" growled Miller.

"I remember Catwoman's Earth Two counterpart—don't worry Mr. Schwartz! I'm not bringing back any alternate dimensions!" O'Neil said a silent prayer when he saw the old man calm down. "Like I was saying, that version of Catwoman reformed, married her Batman, and gave birth to Huntress. Unlike the regular Catwoman she had an origin beyond the idea that she had amnesia and all she can remember her father's pet shop. She came from an abusive marriage to an unnamed man; she eventually snapped, put on a costume, and robbed him of everything he had."

O'Neil smiled when looked around and saw everyone intently listening. Being the editor means being the boss! "It can work. We can use that. So maybe… maybe Selina is a broken woman trapped in an abusive relationship with a sham husband. He only married her on paper as part of some money making scheme, but he'll beat her if he catches her looking at another man. Yes, he uses her as his secretary, his slave, maybe even his whore, living all the while in a mansion while his sham wife lives in the ghetto. And no, he doesn't pay her." He saw people shaking their heads at the sadness and he sighed. "Why would you pay your wife for helping in you in your joint business? Her only joy in life is her cats, chiefly her black cat Hecate.

"It's near Christmas when it finally happens. After Selina finds incriminating info on her man, he, not surprisingly, shoves her out of a thirty story window. However!" said O'Neil dramatically, "a snowdrift breaks her fall and she is seemingly resurrected by cats as Hecate watches. Thus revived, she becomes Catwoman. That's when she meets Batman/Bruce who begins falling in love with both her and Selina Kyle. She begins losing it since she wants to be good for Batman's sake but there's too much poison in her.

"For example we see Catwoman straddling Batman who is on his back while they are both underneath mistletoe. Mistletoe can be deadly if you eat it he says, but a kiss, Catwoman counters, can be even deadlier if you mean it. Later Selina and Bruce are dancing under the same plant and she muses that mistletoe can be deadly if you eat it. When Bruce says that a kiss can be even deadlier if you mean it and sees her gasp, they both realize the truth.

O'Neil could feel his pulse racing; the climax was going to be so great! "In the end she ultimately kidnaps her abusive husband and there we learn that, in stark contrast to everything we ever said, Catwoman never swore not to kill—she swore never to kill _again_.

"She confronts her tormentor and though he keeps shooting her, she keeps getting up. Two shots and she says 'Four five, still alive!' He shoots her again. She staggers like a drunk but manages to say, 'Six, seven all good girls go to heaven. Wow only two lives left, better save one for next Christmas, but for now, how about a kiss Sandy Claus?' She then blows the two of them up or sets them on fire or something. Batman rushes in but he only finds the broken body of the guy, no Selina. Later Alfred drives a despairing Bruce through Gotham streets when he is told to stop. Bruce thinks he might have seen Selina and gets out of the car only to find Hecate in the snow. Picking up the cat, he goes back and Alfred says 'Merry Christmas Mr. Wayne and goodwill towards men.' To which he responds 'goodwill towards men… and women.'"

With that many people there smiled and some even clapped. Frank Miller was one of them. "Not bad boss! It's almost as good as mine even!" O'Neil just smirked good naturedly at that. "Hey Denny, what do you say if after this is done we figure a way to merge our ideas?"

Jenette Kahn nodded her approval at this. "Looks like we're back on track. Miller, O'Neil, from the notes you gave me before all this, that looks like all you got, is that right. I mean yeah, you'll come with more but for now that's it, right?" The two men told Kahn that, yes was effectively correct. "Well then I guess that's that. Anyways, before I turn it over Wonder Woman and George Perez, I'd just like to thank all of you two for giving us your ideas.

"George, you're up!"

**Author's Notes and Replies: Wonder Woman will hopefully be up very soon. (Today's date is 2/27/13) For now however, lets go through the lettercol, shall we?**

**Markmark: O'Neil does come off as cranky but as you see, he gets what's coming to him in the next chapter. As for Leslie Thompkins and Alice Chilton... well I I try to please everyone but you can't hit a homer every time... :(**

**Sir Thames: As always, thank you for your kind words good sir!**

**"Anonymous": Buddy, regardless of what we fans might want, DC's a business and that means that until more people want to see proper management than want to see Superman and Batman catch bank robbers we'll be stuck trying to figure these things out. Me, I go with the flow and enjoy it as "just a story" but if you want to good answer to this, I recommend Mark Miller's _Superman: Red Son_ which has Lex Luthor save the world from a communist Superman. However, its not a simple morality is reversed mirror world story, no. Superman is evil because he is good; driven by his own compassion (and Marxist philosophy) he becomes leader of the Soviet Union after Stalin's death to make his country and the world a Utopia... and he does it at the cost of human freedom. Luthor is good because he is evil; he is driven only by his hatred of Superman but his very indifference to humanity means that if he inadvertently saves the world and raises living standards to boot he doesn't care.**

**In defense of her husband, First Lady Lois Lane says that it didn't matter if FDR cheated on his wife, all that mattered was that he saved the world from Hitler. has two relevant pages on this subject, "Reed Richards is useless" and "Alternate Reed Richards is awesome."**

**As to your other remarks, why don't you register so we can PM?**


	9. Ch 7: All the World is Waiting for You

**For William Moulton Marston. Girl power, doc.**

**Chapter Seven: All the World is Waiting for You...**

**Place: Offices of DC Comics, New York City**

**Year: 1986**

"Hello everyone, I'm George Perez and some of you might know me from my earlier work on _Teen Titans_ and _Crisis._ Now, I'm working on Wonder Woman. It wasn't meant to be like that though. I was just going to be drawing but when Greg Potter left, I asked Jeanette Kahn if I could be the writer too, something to which she kindly agreed. Thanks Jeanette!"

The publisher smiled. "You're welcome George."

"I've wanted to write and draw Wonder Woman for a while now; I said as much in an interview with _Mile High Comics_ magazine. My friend Marv Wolfman here wrote and edited a few issues and told me about it." Wolfman nodded. "We've even worked on the outer edges of the character, using her little sister Donna Troy and Paradise Island in _Teen Titans_. It's going to be a real treat writing Diana herself with how it will let me proclaim the glory of Gaea."

At that, concerned looks came across the faces of all the men at the conference table and scooted away from Perez; he narrowed his eyes as he saw that. Back to reality… however grim it might be. "There have been rumors among the fans that Diana 'died' during the Crisis because we're going to kill her off for good. While that isn't true, the fact that Wonder _Girl_ is doing better in someone else's team book than Wonder _Woman_ is doing _**in her own book**_proves something's wrong." He sighed. "Her book is dying; last year her book went bimonthly because nobody cared enough to buy it.

"…**I know she can do better!**" Perez shouted, causing a few people to jump at the outburst while he calmed down. "I know she can do better… Back in the seventies we advertised her as superheroine number one and her creator William Moulton Marston would agree that it's time we started treating her like it. Part of this is setting up boundaries since the headaches we've had for the last fifteen years came from every writer trying a new gimmick. The bad thing is that that works for the same reason it fails. After it loses its novelty you need to go in 'bold new direction' yet again. I'm not going down that route though God knows how close I came.

"In the wake of _Crisis_, I initially hoped to reboot Wonder Woman from scratch to do everything right the first time; Wolfman even said we should do that to DC's entire line. After talking to Mr. Schwartz, however, I decided that his idea is the right one. In fact, it's going to save us a lot of headaches. For example, if there's no Wonder Woman to be her sister, then where did Wonder Girl come from? To have it make sense, we'd have to remove Wonder Girl from continuity." He laughed. "Try telling that to our best seller _Teen Titans_!

"After all," Perez mischievously smiled, "why should Diana be retconned when there's such a great story there just waiting to be told? In terms of continuity, Wonder Woman first appeared in _Wonder Woman_ #98, 1958, when Bobby Kanigher retold her origin and ignored all her earlier stories. If you look at her from there and trace her all the way to the eve of _Crisis_, whilst acknowledging all the story elements retroactively added since then, you have all the depth and complexity you could ever need.

"Like Marston before me, I plan to write Wonder Woman as a feminist character. I want to give her a depth missing from her previous incarnations and set her apart from other DC heroes. For example, she is supposedly here to promote peace as the default ambassador of her country and all we ever see her do is fight super villains. That's nice but it's nothing that any other superheroine can't do. My plan then is to let her be an Amazon, let her be a princess and emissary from Paradise Island to Man's World.

"Since to fix continuity we have to know what's wrong with it, let's start at the beginning. The classic origin is good and I see no reason to change it. The Amazons grow sick of the violence of Man's World and leave to found Paradise Island, or Themyscira as I'm going to call it, where they set up new lives for themselves. In time, Hippolyta longs for a child and the gods grant her wish by bringing to life a doll she had made from clay. She raises her daughter and Diana does, indeed, grow into a 'wonder.' But, and here is where I throw in the monkey wrench, but when Air Force Colonel Steve Trevor crash lands on Themyscira it all goes to hell."

Roy Thomas asked, "What do you mean?"

"What do I mean…" Perez pursed his lips and thought for a moment. "What I mean is that Diana, in her current incarnation, became Wonder Woman for all the wrong reasons. If you don't believe me, pick up Bobby Kanigher's first issues. As both writer and editor, he created Wonder Woman; every issue since 1958 has been based on his Silver Age reboot. Earlier stories imagined a girl made out of clay who lived on Paradise Island until Steve Trevor crash landed where on the girl now woman left against her mother's will. Kanigher, on the other hand, not only had her born in the normal way but had her mother train her for her future career as Wonder Woman. Since the DCU wasn't terribly interconnected in those days and that most heroes were being rebooted anyways, it was no biggie.

"The two stories," Perez continued, "can be meshed together and they were when Kanigher restored Diana's made from clay origin. To make this extra clear he even had his new/old origin and untold stories from early in his Wonder Woman's career drawn in her Golden Age style. Eventually, the standard look and tone of Kanigher's stories returned and his earlier pre-retro stories were reconfirmed as cannon thanks to a flashback in a later Denny O'Neil issue."

"Well, what does any of that have to do with Steve?" insisted Thomas perplexedly. "I wrote a few stories and I never saw Steve as wrecking Paradise Island."

O'Neil drummed his fingers on the table. Perez just had to bring up those black mark issues…. "Roy, I think what George is trying to say is if Marston's version and Kanigher's version are both true, then why? Why did Polly train Diana from birth to one day leave and become Wonder Woman but that when that day came wouldn't let her go?"

A fist slammed the table and they all looked at Perez. "Now you got it!" he said through his grin. "Why did Queen Hippolyta refuse to let her daughter go?" A grin turned into a conspiratorial smile. "Diana says why in #322. She tells her mom, and I'm paraphrasing, 'I'm beginning to think that the real reason you never wanted me to go is because your romance with Hercules went sour ages ago.' If you pick up Marston's Golden Age origin story, you see that when Air Force pilot Steve Trevor crashed his place on Paradise Island Diana fell in love with him at first sight. She loved him so much that she abandoned her home and her immortality for him. All for him… and there you have the starting point.

"In the same story that I just mentioned, Diana leaves the island angry with her mother telling her that 'The outside world is hard but I have seen too much of it and loved too much of it—' looks at Steve '—to ever be content with paradise again.' The romance can work. His Golden Age/Earth-Two self and the TV version he inspired were good men. …the Steve Trevor Bobby Kanigher stuck us with? Not so much.

"I've spoken with Dan Mishkin, who wrote the stories I just cited; in fact, he wrote the series for the last three years with the exceptions of a few issues. Now that I'm writing, I plan to resolve a major plot thread of his once and for all. Dan?"

They all cast a glance at the smiling Mishkin. "One of my issues introduced Artemis, the original Wonder Woman of Ancient Greece… who of course looks just like Diana." He checked his notes. "It was #301. She won the contest and went forth on her civilizing mission but threw everything away to get her boyfriend to love her. It cost Artemis her life and, attacking Themyscira for that man, her soul. Later, in modern times, Diana wants to tell Steve her secret identity but he says, quote 'You're my angel, angel, and I want you to stay that way… not turn out to be somebody who sweeps up the Pentagon at night.' End quote. You better believe I got anti-Steve hate mail for that! Like I explained in #315's letter column, Steve's either a dope or a wimp and he's writing himself out. There's more but you see where we're going."

"Thanks Dan." Perez looked pensive. Write new stories without ignoring the old ones and that goes double for Steve. "On the one hand, he's brave enough and O'Neil's first issue said he earned the Medal of Honor along the line. You might compare him to Hal Jordan; he's an idiot but he'll always try to do the right thing. And in recent issues, writers like Conway, Mishkin, and Thomas have tried to reform him.

"On the other hand, he's worse than Lois Lane ever was. Maybe she never proved Clark was Superman but she always suspected it. Diana Prince, on the other hand, not only looks but acts exactly like Wonder Woman and Trevor never figures it out!… #162 had a year one flashback where, after having just created her secret identity, Diana Prince goes to meet Trevor… who doesn't recognize her. Dumbstruck, she asks him point blank if she sees a resemblance between her and Wonder Woman; he says he doesn't and calls her a Martian! I don't know who's writing J'onn J'onzz, but," he quickly added, "no offense."

"None taken," replied John Ostrander.

"Right. Anyways," continued Perez, "Prince _is_ a plain-Jane with her Clark Kent glasses but, dowdy or not, she is still the same woman she is in costume." A puzzled look crossed the man's face. "Hey Maggin, didn't you have a gutsy Diana Prince beat up some muggers once?"

A bemused Maggin nodded. "Yeah, she got the muggers and somebody asked if she's Wonder Woman. Everyone else says she can't be; Wonder Woman would never be so obvious in her secret identity." With that the Superman editor burst out laughing.

"That's what I mean," Perez chuckled. "Issue #130 proves it. It opens with Lieutenant Diana Prince asking Steve out on a date several times and every time he declines so he can be free to see Wonder Woman. And when he finally does agree to go on a date, he spends the entire night talking about you-know-who. It gets worse when Trevor invites Prince to a Charity Carnival."

Maggin furrowed his brow. "How could that be bad? I don't get—no, no I don't believe it!" He rolled his eyes and said, "Let me guess he's only inviting her because he can't find Wonder Woman and he wants to blow the other ticket he already has. No wait…" he said as he scoured his mind for the most ridiculous love triangles that ever (dis)graced Superman's Silver Age. "When Trevor gets the chance he dumps Prince so he can go date Wonder Woman and when he tells Prince he calls her bland or something. Oh God, what does she see in him?!"

Peres shook his head and sighed. "I'll get to that in minute Elliot, and it's 'mud hen' he calls her not 'bland.' Anyways, on realizing Steve only loves a Diana with superpowers, she accepts the date and while on the date, she casts a spell to temporarily turn herself into a freak in order to test his love. He, of course, runs away in terror. When he comes across Diana Prince a few minutes later and desperately asks her out on a date, he can't understand why she says no

"It wasn't the 'first' time, however," Perez quickly added, "because, like I said, Kanigher told a few flashback/year one stories in his run. In one, Diana thinks to herself that Steve is cute and she would spend all her time with him, presumably ignoring her responsibilities, if she didn't keep fighting herself. 'Guess I'm weak, that way,' she says. She even blatantly wonders if Steve's love for her is just all on the surface. The above story gives the answer."

A thought flashed across Perez mind. "With how the spell was originally used by her mother to dupe a buffoonish Hercules," he mused to himself, "that story has potential—it could be retold."

Puzzled by that last part, all the writers looked at Perez. Good. "It's obvious. The stories that have Hippolyta train her daughter to be a hero and then forbid her from leaving aren't contradictory at all and can even support each other. Hippolyta _did_ raise Diana to one day leave so she could spread the glory of Aphrodite throughout the world _but_ when she saw her daughter's infatuation for Steve Trevor she remembered her love with Hercules."

"Hey George, wait a minute!"

Perez looked at Dan Mishkin. "What do you mean."

"I'm sorry to interrupt but can you pull one of my issues out of your portfolio, its #300 according to my notes… Please George?"

The new writer obliged the old and when he did… "Oh, you mean this one!" He opened and read Hippolyta's thought balloons. "'Dear Diana you are as wise and as compassionate a daughter as I could have ever hoped to raise… but if you think the needs of Man's World were your sole reason for becoming Wonder Woman, you are fooling yourself… for it is also Colonel Steve Trevor that keeps you there!'"

Mishkin asked, "George, remember our deal. When you start writing, you send me a copy!"

"Can do. Now Elliot," he said and saw Maggin nod, "a bit back you asked me what Diana could possibly see in Steve Trevor. I was asking myself that when Mishkin told me yesterday of a letter he got about a year ago from one Michael Pickens of Utica, Ohio. Perez pulled out #317 and went straight to the letters section. "I will read the relevant section in its entirety.

"'Please break Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor. Don't kill him off again, but end their current relationship. Their love for each other would never last in real life. Steve is the first man Diana ever saw, and he was and is young and good looking. Obviously, Diana has a school girl infatuation with him. And Steve? Diana is gorgeous and saved his life. He feels a cross between gratefulness and lust. If this isn't true, then show us why Diana likes Steve. We've only seen so far that Steve embodies every facet of the human male that the Amazon's despise.'"

Perez let the comic on the table and let out a sigh. "That letter said it all. We started in this direction when I compared Diana's two origins: Hippolyta training her to leave one day vs. not letting her go when the time came. It's simple really. When Steve crashed on the island Diana was in her early twenties at the most and had never seen a man in her life. Her falling in love with Steve would thus have been her first crush. Yet while Hippolyta was afraid of a failed romance for her daughter, she was even more afraid that Diana would go to Man's World for all the wrong reasons. She was afraid that if her daughter became Wonder Woman for Steve, she might just as easily give up being Wonder Woman for Steve."

They were all paying very close attention now. Very, very good! "If you don't believe me, just read the stories written before O'Neil came and killed Trevor. As long as Steve was there, she was invincible. Hey Clark Plaid, or whatever your name is, pass these out."

"Plaid" grumbled but dutifully did as he was told. He passed around old comics. "Look here, Perez said, "she's tearing whole tank divisions apart with her bare hands. Hell, she's scrapping those metal monsters with one punch each! In this one she's catching Zeus's thunderbolts with her bare hands and throwing them back at him! The same issue shows her knocking Poseidon flat on his back—and they're underwater. Or here in this one…" This one he opened up and pointed to the panel in question. "She sees a tsunami heading towards Paradise Island and what does she do? She stands on her plane, lassoes the island, and picks it up with nothing but a smile. She's lifting hundreds of billions of tons there!

"In those issues, Diana was outmuscling giants and lifting whales as a pre-teen girl. Heck, she was so strong as a baby that she a sent birthday cake into orbit when she blew on it! The story where she picks up Paradise Island was about #100, 1958. In one recent issue, #305, back in 1983, catching a stone statue made her go 'oof.' Before Steve dies she picks up whole islands with a smile and after he dies, catching a stone statue makes her go 'oof'? Clearly a disconnect." He paused for a moment. "Hey Mishkin, you wrote #305. Why did you have Diana be so weak?"

The new guy really is going his own way, thought Mishkin as he shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "She's not that weak. She was probably just caught off guard. I mean I had her tow a nuclear sub into port once just by swimming. It's just, I never read the old issues I guess."

"Nobody ever does," sighed Perez. "The point is that Diana stayed behind for Steve's sake when the Amazons removed Paradise Island to another dimension to 'recharge their magic.' As part of her staying behind she renounced all her power and became mortal. Unfortunately, the depowered Wonder Woman failed to save Steve when he was gunned down by the villain Dr. Cyber. On his death, the days of the invincible Wonder Woman were over; she never did regain her full power, even after she supposedly regained her Amazon abilities.

"On the plus side, if you take a close look, some of the best Wonder Woman stories happened when Steve was dead. They include things like the twelve labors story line where she fights to reclaim Justice League membership, the time Ares invades Paradise Island, Orana challenging her for the name of Wonder Woman. She doesn't need some male chauvinist pig!"

Kahn smirked. "What did the 'male chauvinist pig' do? Wrap her in her own lasso and use it to mind control her into marriage?"

"Yeah, that was #167." He raised an eyebrow at his slack jawed boss. "What? You asked. Anyways, back to the story. A sexist Trevor could work as part of an opposites attract idea; Diana is a crazy feminist, he's a he-man woman hater and they both have to learn to work together. However, as we've been writing her, she just comes off as clingy. Besides, he was never shown as the one true love. Back in the Silver Age before Steve died and set up a broken heart routine, Bird Man and Merman were shown as serious contenders as was Mr. Monster."

Perez didn't to open his eyes to know the looks on everyone's faces. "…Yes… she dated a male harpy called Bird Man. Let us speak no more of it.

"Their love is supposed to be eternal but a close look at Diana and Steve says different. You might compare Diana's mourning when Trevor died to Devi's in Carl Sagan's recent novel, _Contact_. When aliens contact Earth and our five representatives go meet them, the aliens shape change into the people our explorers most loved. One of the five, a woman named Devi Sukhaviti, meets a simulacrum of her late husband. The two Indians were of different castes and for that her family turned their backs on her but she married him with no regrets. When he died soon after, she vowed to never marry another.

"And when Devi sees her husband's duplicate, she's outraged. He's an idiot; they're completely incompatible! As they talk she realizes that she never loved him at all; it had been infatuation. In fact, for the sake of their love, to the degree that there was any, it's good that he died because of he hadn't they would have divorced within a year. Her dreams broken, Devi no longer mourns for her foolish husband, she mourns for the family she threw away for him.

"We see that with Steve; he and Diana were happy after his first resurrection but the honeymoon didn't last. He came back and he couldn't deal with the new Diana. He tried to call the shots like it was in the 'old days' but he was dealing with a Diana who'd been on her own for eight years and who'd realized she can get on just fine without him. He died in 1968 and returned in 1976. He doesn't know how to deal with feminism, female ministers, Women's Liberation, Ms. Magazine and opening of West Point to all the ladies." Perez stopped for a moment. "Now that I think about, the Colonel really couldn't deal with that last part! Diana outright says 'he's from a different time' with how he's having difficulty dealing with it all.

"If even Kanigher was calling Trevor out as an idiot in the 60s, something's wrong with the guy. She tries to get him a job in #225 but it doesn't work. Excusing the interval when the book was set in World War II to cash in on the TV show, the stories that had Diana and Steve Howard were just a few months in terms of comic book time. And yes I see the looks on your faces; he adopted a new identity and personality to cover up his resurrection. That was even part of why they drifted apart.

"By #248 when he died again, Diana and Steve were already questioning their love for each other, and yes, Hippolyta was always against the entire romance. She even erased all memory of Steve from her daughter's mind on getting the chance!" He picked the two relevant issues from his portfolio. "She betrayed and brainwashed her own daughter! Twice!" Perez shook his head. Polly was going to have hell to pay when he started writing the book. "You better believe Diana was spitting blood when she figured it out.

"Thus, when the Steve Trevor of another Earth—though in our new continuity he'll be from a parallel dimension, or an alternate timeline, or a clone, or something else—landed on our Earth and Diana fell in love with him, she didn't really love him. She only thought she loved Steve Trevor II because of her subconscious memories of Steve Trevor I. When all's said and—"

"What!?" interrupted Julius Schwartz. "…Who the devil wrote that!?"

Dan Mishkin folded his arms and replied, "If you mean the first part it wasn't me! I spent most of my run making sense of the Steve from another dimension debacle."

Julius grumbled something under his breath before growling again. "The first part is exactly what I meant. I repeat, who the devil wrote that?"

"Alright, I'll come clean. I did it" Gerry Conway cast a nervous glance at Mishkin and then at Perez. "I thought she could use a little romance and who better than Steve. Y'know love conquers all?"

Perez looked clemently at the chastised writer and said, "Don't be too hard on yourself, these things happen. Besides, you gave me a lot to work with. In fact, your last story is the reason I'm here!" He looked at the other DC writers and artists and continued. "Conway here wrote the last issue of the old series, #329; it ties in to _Crisis _and was written before we decided not to reboot her so he thought he was going to write her last story ever." Perez saw Conway prick his ears. Good!

Perez threw a glance at a comic book before taking a large picture from his portfolio and placing it on a stand. It was a blow up of a double page spread from the same issue. It showed Wonder Woman storming Olympus and waging her final battle against the god of war. Behind her was a reunited Amazon nation made up of her mother's Amazons and those of a once estranged tribe in combat with an army of the dead. Before her lay Ares who had allied himself with the Anti-Monitor to undo the universe. Perez looked at Conway and read the caption.

"'Here is legend: daughter of Hippolyta, as lovely as Aphrodite, as wise as Athena, with the speed of Hermes, and the strength of Hercules, she is the greatest of all the Amazons, a beacon of light in the gathering night! Unwise are those who forget the power she wields—the power of hope, the power of justice, the power of truth restored.'" Perez looked at a humbled Conway and smiled. "'She is Wonder Woman… and this is her finest hour!'"

Conway didn't know why he'd been picked to write the swan song; he'd only written two years of Wonder Woman beforehand. Still, he sat up straight on hearing that and felt himself swell with pride at what Perez said next. "Gerry, you have no idea how much I wanted to reboot Diana. When I think what I could have done with a blank slate… I was ready to join Byrne and leave with my ideas before Schwartz there had me read this last story." The grand old man of DC gave the two writers thumbs up.

Perez looked at him. "There is nothing wrong with continuity that can't be fixed by what's right with continuity." He turned his gaze back to Conway. "Gerry, the reason I went through with Schwartz's idea of keeping this version of Wonder Woman instead of creating a new one is because for first time since Kanigher, someone dared to show just how awesome she can be!"

He felt like a truck ran him over when they all burst into cheers and started slapping him across the back. "I… I mean…" Can't cry, can't start bawling, can't… ah the hell with it! "Thanks George!" Conway got up; he _had_ to shake Perez hand. "All I knew was if Wonder Woman was going to have her last story that I had better make it a good one. If it's going to keep going, then I want you to do it!"

"Thanks Gerry." Perez waited for everyone to settle back down. They would have to be for what he was going to do next. "Like I said, the last issue of the old series ended with Diana's big fight with Ares… and her marrying Steve. We can always have her fight Ares but the marriage is where it gets tricky.

"See, in the original context, it provides a poignant end for the 'old' Wonder Woman as she was going to be erased. Marston did have his character be a career woman but one that still enjoyed a boyfriend. It was over forty years of will they, won't they, in which Steve died, came back, then died again, then a Steve from another dimension showed up and his memories altered to think he was the original Steve. With the end of the world upon them, it looked as if they'd never be together.

"So, when Conway here wrote the last story, of course he had them marry. It was literally their last chance before they ceased to exist and the perfect way to close that chapter of Wonder Woman. We catch a glimpse of them on their wedding night as they kiss and dream of their children. They know that 'Whatever happens now or in the future...we'll be together till the end of time.' It was dedicated to the memory of Dr. William Moulton Marston. The words the end had a special resonance because it really WAS the end, the end of an era.

"And that's why I feel like a heel getting rid of it!" Perez looked remorsefully Conway. "Sorry Gerry but I'm going to undo that last part."

The writer smiled wearily. "Y'know George, if you really want to be cynical about their romance you can say that Diana married Steve II on pure impulse and that their marriage would have fallen apart anyways. Ah, don't worry about it George, just worry about telling a good story."

"Right," Perez responded thankfully. "And now that we understand the past we can go to the future. Since we're tweaking instead of abolishing old continuity we ignore a few panels from #329 to say she and Steve weren't actually married and we ignore a few panels from _Crisis_ #12 to say she wasn't actually turned back into clay by the Anti-Monitor. The first issue or two of the new series will bring readers up to speed on what I said so they'll understand why Steve and Diana don't quite have their happily ever after.

"As it stands, she lost her secret identity right in front of Steve back in #328—Hermes flew towards her day job at the Pentagon and said the Zeus needed her help. Now, with the Crisis over, she's living with her boyfriend Steve in his apartment hoping that _this_ time they can finally make it work. They cheated death twice and now they know the truth, so now they can get married. All you need is love, right? Wrong.

"They argue over everything, from who does the dishes or whose career comes first. With the loss of her secret identity, Steve is now a target for every crook Diana ever put in jail. Fans are mobbing them everywhere. They also laugh at him for being so stupid that he couldn't figure out that Diana Prince was Wonder Woman with glasses. He's also outraged by how she led him on for years; he accuses her of playing him for a fool, toying with his emotions as she played her double life against him.

"It gets so bad that he just gives up. He's tired of having his male ego deflated. He's tired of people laughing behind his back for always being saved by his girlfriend. He's tired of their dirty jokes about her snapping him in two when they have sex; not that she ever gave him any. Most of all, he's tired of the fact that he's not the real Steve and that she only loved him because of the original—whom he is not. Steve Trevor II even calls her a mind rapist with how her family messed with his head to make him think he was always from our Diana's dimension.

"It gets to the point where he brings up everything that I've said and asks Diana if she ever really loved him. Or any version of him, for that matter! Diana says she does and to prove it she wraps herself in her Lasso so she can ask him. But when Steve does so she can't say yes. Her teeth are clenched and she fights the Lasso all the while, trembling and frothing at the mouth. In the end, however, she spits out one word: no.

"The next day, when a disheartened Diana comes back from patrol, she finds a note where he says he's gone and he's not coming back. 'See you in hell, "angel"!' Diana reads this and she panics. She can't lose him after all they've endured together! She can't let a love so strong that it twice overcame death go away!

"But when she reaches for the telephone in hopes of contacting Steve, a brief glance at the mirror shows her the princess of the Amazons on her knees and reduced to a blubbering child. That's when all truths the lasso showed her, everything I've been saying about her and Steve come rushing to her. Her mother had raised her to be a hero but when the time came to be a champion of everything her people held dear, she threw it all away for a schoolgirl crush. Disgusted with herself, Diana crushes the phone in her hand and grumbles, 'Ah, who needs romance.'

"And _that_ leads into the next part. Guys, next up is going to be revisions and where all this is going to go in the first year of the new run. Since this is going to take a while let's take a five minute break, ok?"

_To be continued..._

**Author's Notes and Replies: To quote the _Necronomicon_, "That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons even death may die..."**

**I'm like the Frankenstein monster! I don't die, I just need the occasional lightning bolt to revive! Like I said elsewhere, I was laying the groundwork for other fics; however, that's past and now I'm back on here. While I do have my responsibilities, future chapters should takes less than eight months. (Seriously, I checked and the last update was on 6/26/2012!)**

**As promised lettercol.**

**Sunflare: Electrum Age... I like the sound of it! And yes, I'm with you on Psycho Pirate. _Crisis_ closes by showing that people who remember the multiverse and yearn for it belong in the nuthouse. Err... :-( As for Green Lantern, right now I'm working on Wonder Woman but I have been watching a few episodes of the new cartoon and I'm thinking of giving him a whole chapter.**

**Sir Thames: Thank you for your kind words!**

**Markmark: I'm back and with a whole new chapter as you can see above! ****For Alan Moore, it is anachronistic but I use it since he was a fan of Silver Age Superman and disapproved of DC's post-Crisis revisionism; ironic considering his work on ****_Watchmen_ and "Whatever happened to the Man of Tomorrow." Thus when he wrote Rob Liefield's _Supreme _he imagined a DCU where the Crisis never happened****. He changed the names, of course, (Polyman=Plastic Man, Dr. Mid-Nite=Batman) but his idea's clear. ****As for using the _Batman Returns_ origin for Catwoman, ****it was watching Burton's movies as a boy **that made me a bat-fan. It still holds a place in my heart and her movie origin combines well with her pre-Crisis Earth Two origin. So mix-and-match!****

****"Anonymous": I know she killed Black Mask but in this alternate timeline who knows and as for Hecate... In her, Isis, and Miss Kitty, the feline fatale has black cat pets three times over. The image of her with a familiar, reminding us that its not just a gimmick is so good. ********Its so much easier to just eliminate redundancies and let Hecate become her own character.****

****That's all everyone, hope to see you soon!****


	10. Ch 8: And the Power you Possess

**Chapter Eight: …And the powers you possess…**

**Place: Offices of DC Comics, New York City**

**Year: 1986**

Peres mischievously smiled. "Like I said, the best stories happened when Steve was dead. That Steve held her back is seen in a Bobby Kanigher year one story; there, a newly arrived Diana said he was so cute that she would spend all her time with him thus abandoning her responsibilities if she didn't fight it. 'Guess I'm weak, that way,' she muses. The absurdity is highlighted in another flashback issue where she, with a bored out of her mind look on her face, thinks to herself that she fell in love at first sight with the only man she'd ever met in her life!

"Now to be fair, he and Wonder Woman can work when done right. For example, the Golden Age version and the TV show versions of Wonder Woman did love their Steves and left Paradise Island for them but not only for them. They also left to fight the Nazis and save the world. The Lynda Carter Wonder Woman loved her Steve and they dated all through season one but when the show returned for a modern era season two, Steve was long gone and she was still there fighting the good fight. The existence of Trevor Junior by an unnamed woman shows that that Diana would be just dandy if she never married her Steve. As long our comic book Diana defined herself by a relationship to a man, she was always holding herself back so as not to offend him masculine sensibilities. But with him gone, so is that mental block!

"To show that, we go back to the beginning when her mother Queen Hippolyta and the Amazons, sick of its ugliness and brutality, left Man's World to create their Paradise Island and, yes, it deserved its name. Crime, poverty, war, hunger, disease, were all banished, it was a world where love was the answer to every problem. Yet while love was the answer, it was only a certain kind of love. As the centuries passed, a world without men meant they lacked that which only men can give them. Some even went mad and carved 'whittle babies' from wood." He saw Jenette Kahn reflexively put her hand over her stomach. "Hippolyta…" he choked, "Hippolya is too strong to fall into that dementia but she too feels the ache of an empty womb.

"By the gods' command, the desperate queen goes to the beach on a storm lashed night. Drenched to her skin, Hippolyta uses a dagger to both dig up clay for molding a doll and to paint on the doll's forehead a star with her own blood. All of a sudden the doll begins quiver and cry! Ignoring the pain from her wounded hand, she picks the girl up and lets the rain wash the mud from her body. Tears streaming from her face she thrusts her daughter to the sky and screams hymns of praise to the gods for the gift they have given her!

"The child is brought to the temple and all the Amazons follow. There, Aphrodite tells her daughter that yes the child was given to ease her loneliness; she herself is happy to look on her granddaughter. However, there is more than that. The time will come when the Amazons will reunite with Man's World and Ares will surely try to destroy these attempts for peace. That is seen when Ares tries to kill the newborn child but fails, instead kidnapping the baby's sister." He saw a certain old man who never forgot a character smile. With a Cheshire Cat grin, Perez said, "Yes, Mr. Bridwell there _is_ a Nubia and her loss just emphasis that the Amazons will need a worthy champion. Diana will be that champion and guiding her to that destiny will be Hippolyta's responsibility.

"Hippolyta does so ably, personally training her in everything she knows and Diana proves an excellent pupil. Her mother was the 'Wonder Woman' of World War II (yes I see those looks on your faces, I'll say more later) and the young princess dreams of going to Man's World to fight for love and justice like her mother did. She dreams of being her grandmother Aphrodite's champion bridging the gap between Paradise Island and Man's World. Every morning she wakes up looking forward to that day's training session and throws herself into it 110%.

"As Bobby Kanigher told us, even though she did get superpowers from her gods, Diana still has to train in order to prove herself worthy. No matter what it is, be it martial arts, survival training, etiquette, math, philosophy, bodybuilding, logic, rhetoric, she trains until she literally drops. She pushes her superpowers past the limit so often that Hippolyta occasionally orders her to stop lest she permanently injure herself. Other times, she just has Diana train just enough so that she falls asleep on which she takes the child to bed.

"It's at fifteen that she undergoes a ritual that all girls her age undergo; though they are exceedingly rare, children are not unknown on Paradise Island. I'll say more later. Queen Hippolyta knows that her daughter is no longer a girl but a woman. Diana's given her bracelets and kneels before Aphrodite's statue where she swears to her grandmother to be true now and forever to the cause of love. There's always more training but now she's ready; she's just waiting for a sign. That's when Steve Trevor crashes. Diana and Mala see him and rescue him from the water. On speaking with him and learning that his plane was shot down by a terrorist group called Sons of Ares, Queen Hippolyta knows its time.

"On seeing her make goo-goo eyes at Steve, she also knows that whoever the champion is going to be that it can't be Diana. All Diana does is talk about being Steve's girlfriend and going on dates but not about being a hero or bearing her people's ideals or reuniting Man's World and Paradise Island. Hippolyta remembers how blind infatuation ruined Artemis, the original Wonder Woman of ancient Greece. She remembers how it led to her betrayal and near destruction of her people when she fell in love with Hercules. The Queen knows that the champion can't be compromised like that and thus says that the champion will be chosen as she always has been: the contest.

"She forbids Diana from competing, citing the above reasons to Diana's face. She protests but to no avail. It's her baby sister Donna—who would have competed herself if not her age—who suggests that she enter secretly. Refusing to be denied her birthright and filled with love for Steve, Diana does so and wins every contest. All that's left is Bullets and Bracelets against Mala. They start off easy, each contestant having to deflect a single shot but it quickly escalates to having to deflect fire from x-number of Tommy guns Hippolyta brought with her after the war. Its dead heat and they're both sweating because every time one gangster gun runs out of ammo, two loaded ones take its place. When Mala is nicked in the shoulder, she is out and as for Diana, now all the guns are pointed at her! It continues until the last gun overheats and the gunwoman throws it at Diana! She deflects that too.

"She collapses to the ground trembling, but victorious. She goes to Hippolyta whereon the Queen takes the tiara from her head and places it on Diana's. She removes bracelets made from the Zeus' Aegis from her wrists and places them on Diana's. She removes the golden Lasso of Truth from her side and places it on Diana's. She says, 'These are the arms of the champion and you are she, my daughter.' Diana is shocked. How did her mother see through her disguise? Hippolyta laughs; she's her mother. How couldn't she?

"Diana arrives in Man's World and leaves Steve in a Washington DC hospital. Following Hermes' advice, she goes to a local all women college, Holiday; she finds a society of women philosophers and scholars easy to understand. More specifically, Diana's left by the messenger god at the door stop of Etta Candy, a Greek American Air Force ROTC student, who goes on to prove herself the greatest friend anyone could ever hope her. The same is true of her stepmom Mrs. Julia Kapatelis; the Greek she speaks isn't Diana's ancient dialect but its close enough and she's a professor of ancient Greek studies to boot! Rest assured, we'll be seeing a lot of her. Anyways, she's been urging her kids to get more in touch with their roots; her late husband's family name Candace was Americanized into Candy and so was he. She never imagined it would be like this, though!

"But if Diana teaches Etta and baby sister Vanessa about Greece, Etta teaches Diana about America. Hippolyta did teach her daughter English along with American culture and manners to better understand the people she will serve and protect. With how she left the US shortly after World War II, however, her daughter's references are over thirty years out of date so Miss Candy's efforts to get Diana caught up are appreciated. Thrilled at helping a real life… superhero," Schwartz raised an eyebrow as he saw how reluctantly Perez used that word, "Candy also helps her design a secret identity. A secret identity, how fun! With Etta's help, Princess Diana eventually creates the identity of Diana Prince, regardless of Etta's objections."

Elongated Man's creator snickered at that. "Hey," retorted Perez, "our heroine was an over eager rookie so let's cut her some slack there!"

"From here on, the story continues more or less like it was in the original comics. Second Lieutenant Diana Prince, a plain Jane non-practicing Christian with no family and who explains her occasional oddities as her being from Canada gets a job at the Pentagon working for Air Force Intelligence. She meets the other DC heroes and, after fending off an alien invasion, helps form the Justice League. Baby sister Donna comes visit and adopts Diana's childhood nickname, Wonder Girl; our heroine thus has her very own sidekick. As per Maggin's ideas she takes Supergirl under her wing and adopts her into the Amazons. She dates Steve Trevor in an up and down roller coaster romance. And finally, Queen Hippolyta sees that her daughter is alright and is balancing her career and any feelings she might have for Steve quite handily. Deciding that all her worries were for nothing, she lightens up and lets her hair down for some Bobby Kanigher style Wonder Queen, mini-skirt wearing, she can fly too adventures.

"Here's the thing, however," added Perez. "All the earlier issues by Kanigher, the ones where he rebooted Diana for the Silver Age and that form the nucleus of my Diana's early career imagine a dream world where nobody ever got hurt or died. Just read them; for all her stupendous feats and for all her telling Steve that they couldn't marry until she was no longer needed, it was almost a game to her. It's like what Maggin said about Superboy; Diana knew that bad things could happen in theory, but she never really believed they would. She always thought she would be there in time to save the day; that's why she left Paradise Island, isn't it? She learned the hard way that the real world doesn't world that way.

"It was in #120 where a fire monster went on the rampage that she caught her first glimpse of cruel reality. It was destroying who knows how many cities and presumably killing thousands with no hesitation. It thought that Wonder Woman would never attack as long as it held Steve hostage; it was wrong. This was the reason she had trained all her life, and here the people whom she'd sworn to protect are begging her to save them. Although she was crying the entire time and it seemed as if she would hate herself for the rest of her life, she destroyed the fire monster thus killing Steve in the process.

"Of course, it turned out he wasn't really dead but it proved a grim harbinger of things to come. Diana left Paradise Island for him and renounced her immortality to be with him so when Dr. Cyber finally does kill Steve it destroys her. She's heartbroken by his death and by the loss of her family; they had withdrawn from the mortal world to 'recharge' their magic. She tries to ignore it with a silly smile and her new fashion sense; she even finds hope in a new boyfriend. When he turns out to be an enemy agent only pretending to love her, however, she beats him half to death and runs off sobbing into the London fog."

Perez paused and gave a good long look to the people listening. "Look," he sighed, "Diana was a child, a total innocent from a magical land of unicorns and rainbows and where you fall in love at first sight and live happily ever after. All of a sudden then, her only love is killed in her arms, she loses her family and home, she's stripped of her powers, and her new boyfriend backstabs her. It all comes to a head with #183 when one of the Amazons arrives seeking her help she finds the great and glorious champion of Themyscira on her knees, whimpering, 'being mortal hurts!'

"The Amazon messenger explains to this little sniveler that she has to save Themyscira, and all the worlds of myth, from Ares and his invading armies. Yes, the monster who nearly destroyed Diana's people so long ago and that she was created to stop has at last returned. Now, Bobby Kanigher did write a few Mars/Ares stories but they were so minor I can say that it was one of his minions, Lord Conquest, keeping the seat warm until his master returned. Now, the god of war has returned and aims to overthrow Zeus as Zeus overthrew Chronos. The first strike is against Themyscira.

"On returning to Paradise Island, Diana sees her home is ruins and her mother in a coma. Who knows how many are dead. Ares and his armies of monsters and mortal worshippers, Sons of Ares, have overrun the land. The god of war looks at his granddaughter and says he will release her mother, his daughter, from the mind rape she is enduring if she will give him the secret of inter-dimensional travel. The princess is afraid but on seeing the courage of her sister Amazons, she puts aside her pain to do her duty. She can't be selfish, not when her people need her!

"She proves an able general and a brave one, rallying her troops against impossible odds. She holds the line and brings in the cavalry, recruiting the gods and heroes of many mythologies against a monster who would kill them all. At the end she and we realize that she really is Wonder Woman; even Ares is forced to recognize that as the defeated god returns her body to the Amazons. Diana, of course, doesn't die but she realizes she must be strong for her mission, for her people. If up till then she was a child, now she has grown up.

"This is the white suit era and with or without her powers, she's a hero." _She certainly is_, Peres cheerfully thought to himself. "She grows closer to baby sister Donna and eventually gets her powers back. After I Ching dies at the hands of a spree killer sniper and she avenges his death, Diana suffers amnesia from a blow to the head and goes to Paradise Island by sheer instinct. Hippolyta, like I said, restores her daughter's memory but very selectively and Diana is very angry when she learns that her mother had been tampering with her mind. Steve comes back from the dead and the happy couple reunites before he dies again. No, things aren't easy, but she survives because she has grown strong and has become the Wonder Woman she was meant to be.

"Ares has returned and he is in full force against the Amazons but for every time the war god strikes Diana is there to stop him. She finds her sister, Nubia, whom Ares had kidnapped so long ago and saves her from his evil clutches. When together they storm his base of Slaughter Island, however, they learn something. He's great at bullying people smaller than himself but when he can't hide behind minions, when it comes to a real fight, he's a rank coward. The two sisters even accuse Ares to his face that ever since the Amazons dealt him an upset victory that he's been afraid of women. Diana takes that into the final battle.

"In the days months leading up to it she had reclaimed her old identity as Diana Prince. Her old superior Colonel Darnell, now a General, had loved her in his own way. When she resigned her commission he had kept up with her exploits as a globetrotting super spy; these parts of her career are public—"

"Hold it right there Perez!" interrupted Schartz. "I remember when we did that story and the whole point was that _Wonder Woman_ lost her powers and became Diana Prince. Don't tell me you're getting as dumb as Magoon there."

Ignoring someone's complaints of nobody remembering his name, Perez silently nodded. "Yes, officially 'Wonder Woman' became Diana Prince with the 'other' Prince disappearing but let's remember, we're taking advantage of _Crisis_ to simplify things.

"Back to the story. It was partly out of lust and partly out of recognition of her very real talents that General Darnell he had her promoted to Major when she returned. For her part, Diana's old friend Etta Candy had since graduated from Holliday to become a lieutenant and our heroine's 'civilian' right hand. The two even rent a room together; Washington DC rental rates are notoriously high. It seems that Diana has finally found some stability in life. She has friends and she has love in Steve Trevor II. She has a nice job. And it all falls apart when she sees the sky turn blood red.

"Diana doesn't know that the Anti-Monitor has launched the Crisis on Infinite Earths, no. All she knows is that Ares has launched his final assault on the Amazons. He's struck at their weakest; he sees that the Amazons have turned against his daughter, Hippolyta, and that Hippolyta herself is wallowing in self pity for betraying Diana's trust. The Anti-Monitor's shadow demons leave Paradise Island in ruins. Hades, forever resentful of the place forced on him gives the god of war a legion of the damned. Aphrodite gave her daughter a dream and now the dream is dead. Diana sees all this but she refuses to lose hope, no matter how hard it gets. She knows that this is her time, that this is the reason she was born, to light her people's darkest hour!

"A brief recap of the last story arc will start my new run and we'll see that after once again saving the day she tries to live happily ever after with Steve. A panel stating a few weeks later is posted and we see the big fight with Steve, whom Diana did not marry. No need to go over it. Now, however, we're going into uncharted territory. "Now," Perez said conspiratorially, "the real game begins!

"As is, Diana's hit rock bottom. She's lost her secret identity. Steve II dumped her. America's turned against Wonder Woman for her 'espionage' activities against the US government. Her old landlord evicted her, and Etta, for fear of becoming a target for supervillains. What hurt the most, however, was being stripped of her military commission when it was revealed she was Wonder Woman. Realistically, however, what else could the military do if it learned that 'Major Prince' was just an alias for a foreign national who infiltrated the Pentagon and stole classified secrets for years in order to further her own schemes? She's awaiting trial for, in effect, being a spy. With how much she cherished her adopted country, this feels like betrayal. What makes it worse is that she knows she deserves it.

"Under constant watch, she and Etta Candy have nobody but Etta's stepmom, Professor Julia Kapatelis to turn to. Yes," Perez happily added, "the professor's glad to have both her girls back; Diana's glad to be back as she sorts things out after the break up. Thus begins a walkabout as our heroine tries to find herself and accept that the original Steve, the one whom she fell in love with, if it can even be called that, is long since dead and that she should stop chasing his ghost.

"As part of that, Wonder Woman comes across a little girl—elementary school age—crying in the park. She goes to wipe the child's tears and asks her why she's crying; it's because her 'boyfriend' left her. With him gone, there's nothing for her. They keep talking and Diana learns that the girl is a straight-A student and a top notch Brownie level Girl Scout. A measure of the girl is seen in how she singlehandedly paid for her neighbor's surgery by means of bake sales. She was a wonder… or she was until she decided all that mattered was making the boy like her. Now, with her grades in the trash and her face smeared in makeup, she asks her idol if she should change to make her boyfriend like her again.

"Seeing herself in the girl, Aphrodite's granddaughter asks her something; yes, she did like him, but did he like her back? If not, then it wasn't love. And maybe, Diana, tells the girl, she is right; she should change but not in the way she's thinking. Perhaps he is a nice boy and maybe he will make some girl happy but if that girl is her, it can't be by her living a lie. Whatever else it might be, love, _true_ love, must never be a crutch or mere possession. It has to be a two way street.

"And all this is none too soon as Wonder Woman suspects that that Ares is up to something. In the town of modern Sparta and across southern Bulgaria/western Turkey, violent crime skyrockets with Sons of Ares taking the credit. Wonder Woman explains to Etta Candy that in ancient times, the places were old Sparta and Thrace, centers of the war god's worship. The lieutenant knows as much from her stepmom but she has to ask her old friend something. Etta has never seen Ares face to face; is he really as bad as the stories say?

"Wonder Woman shakes her head. No, he's worse and now he's more dangerous than ever because with the defeat dealt him in their last battle, he has nothing left to lose. Her fears prove right. He had mentioned nuclear weapons in an earlier issue but had dismissed them as too destructive; after all, what's a god to do if he kills off all his worshippers? But now... ?

"Now, he's just so sick of it. He just doesn't care anymore. He's been defeated and humiliated at every turn and dealt a mortal blow by Wonder Woman; he's dying as much as a god can. He works his Sons of Ares terrorist group for all its worth and has them infiltrate the Soviet and American governments so each can blow the other's country up. He doesn't want to take over the world anymore; he wants to destroy it.

"When that happens, the Candy/Kapatelis family naturally helps her out. Diana Prince has been fired from her job at the Pentagon, yes. However, with how Lieutenant Etta Candy is the only one in Darnell's now defunct Special Assignment's Branch whose hands are still clean, she still has her job and tells her of mysterious goings on." Perez saw the looks on people's faces on the last part and quickly added, "I mean c'mon, Colonel Steve Trevor II is an alternate dimension duplicate posing as the real deal, General Darnell's shady past finally caught up with him, and his adjutant Major Prince lied to the military for years.

"Anyways, as Diana connects the dots from Etta's intel, she realizes just how deep they're in. After a few fights around the world to build up the tension, it climaxes at Lake Avernus in Italy; as per Greco-Roman myth, it hides a portal to the Underworld. Wonder Woman knows what Ares plans to do, so she and a somewhat frightened but nonetheless stalwart Etta Candy acquit themselves handsomely against Ares' thugs. Alas, courage is not enough and the lieutenant is captured. The price of her safety is that Wonder Woman surrender and allow her bracelets to be chained thus robbing her of her strength. Ares insists on doing it personally. The war god and his minions and his prisoner all descend into the land of the dead leaving Etta to weep.

"The evil god is granted an audience with his uncle Hades. Ares asks for his uncle's help; as the eldest of the family, older than Zeus, only he can undo the curse placed on him that robs him of his strength. The king of the damned asks his nephew why he should do such a thing and is told that if he does there will begin a war that will flood the underworld with more souls than its king could know what to do with. Hades rolls his eyes; worship of the Christ eclipsed worship of the Olympians over 1500 years ago and the Christ guards the souls baptized in His name most jealously!"

Schwartz smirked at that. Maybe DC should restart its old Bible project!

"Ares is no fool," continued Perez, "he knows that but responds by asking what about the _unbaptized_? Whether by apathy of oppression, there are in both America and the Soviet Union the godless whose souls belong to whatever god claims them first. It will just be the beginning. Ares reminds his uncle of their alliance during the Crisis and says that this time it can work!

"Hades is intrigued and mentions that on learning of his son's new scheme, Zeus had begged on his knees not to lift the curse he had placed on him. There will be consequences but Hades has high hopes for what Ares can do. And so, despite Persephone's pleas, Hades lifts the curse on his nephew and tells him to make the world bleed.

"As for Wonder Woman she's been beaten as horribly as the Comics Code can allow and it's through blackened eyes that she wakes up to see her torturer atop the steps of the Lincoln Memorial surrounded by every terrorist minion he has. Oh, and an army of monsters given him by Hades: Cyclopes, hundred handed giants, Kampe the dragon woman, hydras, Cerberus, everything. She struggles against her chains but her bracelets have been bound by a man and so she is helpless. Ares hoists her up by her shackles and shows her to the reporters like some obscene trophy so that all the people everywhere can watch in horror.

"He boasts to the bloodied Wonder Woman that this is where it ends. He turns to his soldiers and tells that they've waited patiently but that the time had come to spread his gospel of hate once again. Let the blood flow, let the land ring with battle, and let war be waged until he can walk upon the broken backs of six billion corpses!

"The US Army sends in everything it has but mortal weapons aren't much use against magic. They get some help, though, when Etta Candy returns from Paradise Island inside the Invisible Planed with the cavalry in tow. At least in my stories," Perez quickly added, "Paradise Island is magical and so can be reached from any body of water. Conversely, it can reach any body of land." By that point, he saw everyone was on the edge of his seat, even the grand old curmudgeon, er, grand old man. Good!

"Hundreds of landing crafts disgorge thousands of Amazons ready for battle! As for Queen Hippolyta, the horse woman comes in leading Pegasus cavalry. The soldiers of Man's World are glad to have the Amazons at their back but Wonder Woman knows it's not enough. She knows she has to break free. She has to save the day! She keeps struggling against her chains but nothing seems to happen at first, other than bloodied wrists. As they begin to break, however, a horrified Ares screams, 'But you're no stronger than any other woman in this man ruled world!' Breaking the chains, she replies, 'And that's more than enough strength to beat you!'

"All her strength has returned and then some and so begins what I plan to be the greatest fight in Wonder Woman history! She rallies the men of the US Army as her mother did in World War II; many of them, however, are just paying back the debt their grandfather's owe Hippolyta. For her part, the Queen of the Amazons takes command of the combined Amazon/US forces; just like the old days, she jokes. For their part, Diana and the war god go at it and at first it seems that Diana is winning until Ares reveals his trump card. Yes, the gods have become mere fairy tales since their glory days but in the time since, men have created a weapon of such destructive power that should even just one be used in his name it would give him the power of a thousand wars! Wonder Woman turns to see a nuclear missile shoot into the sky and then sees the mad god become a titan.

"See, by that time Ares' sleeper agents along with his daughter Eris, Duchess of Deception, had taken control of America's nuclear arsenal and performed the rituals necessary to consecrate it to her father. Thus firing the missile at Russia will not only lead to a nuclear war that will destroy all life on Earth (to the goddess of discord's delight) but it will make Ares invincible. As for Ares, he tosses Wonder Woman aside like a rag doll and boasts that now _he_ is the one stronger than Hercules, now _he_ is the one faster than Mercury. Like Zeus, he can bring down lightning and, as seen with an army of Amazon zombies that he raises up to strike down their sisters, he, like Hades, can command the dead.

"Wonder Woman tries to stop this but she's busy with Ares and it's not like the Pegasus cavalry is fast enough to go chasing after a missile. Etta Candy thus goes to the rescue; she's the one who took the Invisible Plane with her to Themyscira, she's the one who called in the cavalry, and now she's the only one with a chance of stopping the missile. If she fails, the world will be destroyed and Ares will burn down Olympus and then all the realms of myth leaving him as the only god to rule over an enslaved humanity. Of course, it's above the skies of Moscow, at the last second, that she scores a direct hit. The Russians cover their eyes as night turns to day but it's after they realize what's just happened that they cheer Etta as she circles a few times to reassure them that it'll be alright.

"Meanwhile, this has an immediate effect back at Washington. Ares feels himself weaken and everyone pauses as the undead Amazons stop fighting. On looking at themselves, however, the zombies either scream in horror on seeing what they have become or, if they have rotted all the way to skeletons they pantomime it. One Amazon who died earlier in the story, Sofia Constantius, an ex terrorist who reformed in earlier issues, says that in life she was a slave to Ares but in death, she is an Amazon. Still fresh enough to do it, she screams the battle-cry…_ HOLA!_

"Diana takes full advantage of this and charges Ares; in so in a double page spread we see just how crazy it's become. Wonder Woman throws a punch that sends everything within a hundred feet flying including Ares who ricochets so hard off of the Washington Monument that it snaps in half and he crashes into Congress. Half DC's monuments in flames and the other half are in ruins. Queen Hippolyta and her pegasi engage in aerial battle against swarms of harpies. The US Army and the Amazons, living and dead, engage in mortal combat against Ares monsters. Cyclopes tear apart tanks, Cerberus devours people left and right, attack copters rain hell on Sons of Ares, and yes, reporters get the biggest battle ever waged by the US military and its Allies on American soil all on film! _**HOLA!**_"

The people there started looking at each other and looking worried. When Joe writer starts acting out the battle scenes, you know someone's gone crazy.

Crazy or not, however, Perez wasn't stopping. "Ares knows its end game and goes berserk, calling down lightning with his remaining strength. The exhausted Princess blocks with her bracelets but she is nevertheless pounded into the ground by the lightning bolts. Battered and bruised, she fights just to stay conscious and she knows it's time to end it. Though a suicide gambit, Diana waits for Ares to call down the lightning, lassoes him, jumps to dodge the lightning, and pulls the war god into its path! With how Ares was already in a weakened state, it's clear what happens next. Maybe she didn't mean to kill him but Ares it still dead and for her part, the Amazon doesn't shed a tear.

"With Ares dead, his monsters disappear and the broken Sons of Ares are easily taken prisoner by the US military. For their part, the zombie Amazons die again, crumbling to dust as they say goodbye. Lieutenant Etta Candy returns and lands the Invisible Plane whereon she gets a big hug from Diana and a hero's welcome from the Amazons. The President of the US arrives and is given a steely glare from Diana's people. Wonder Woman, however, clad in her torn and bloodied American flag costume clicks her heels, salutes, and says, 'Major Diana Prince of the US Air Force, sir!'

"She lied to her adopted country for years and violated its trust by fleeing the US to fight Ares. For that, she tells her Commander-in-Chief that she is ready to face any punishment he might deem worthy. The President assures Wonder Woman that with all she's gone through and all she done for America, that she need not fear any recriminations. In fact, for having saved America from Ares—for saving the world!—he's giving her a full pardon, effective immediately, and an honorable discharge from the US military… with the rank of Colonel. She gasps and says, 'thank you sir!'

"And yes, the reporters there catch it all on film. The people watching it on TV agree whole heartedly with the President, forgiving America's favorite daughter and welcoming her home. As for Hippolyta, she sheds a silent tear when she sees the men (and women) of the US Army triumphantly carry a Wonder Woman on their shoulders once again. They carry Diana under an arch of Amazon swords as those swords' keepers cry, 'Hola!'

"As for Ares, he's a whiny ghost in Tartarus with Hades pondering his final fate. Hades remarks that it was for Ares' sake more than anyone else's that Zeus placed a curse on him. The reason Zeus had allowed the war god to run unchecked for so long was that he couldn't bring himself to deal the lethal blow. He also knew that in the wake of what he did in the Crisis that he could not hope to save his foolish son from himself yet again.

"Berating the war god for his stupidity in allying with the same deity who turned against him in the Crisis, Hades asks the ghost, 'Didn't you ever think stop to think that if I am keeper of the souls of all the innocent people butchered in the wars you started, that your evil wouldn't break even my stone cold heart?!' Hades looks to his dear Persephone and knows that his queen will follow him into exile (Zeus will surely place someone else as king of the dead for this) and he cries. He remembers how Wonder Woman helped reunite him and Persephone during the Crisis and wonders what he did to deserve so good a wife. As for Ares, as his last act as king of the dead, Hades hoists the whimpering war god over his head and throws him to bloodthirsty mob made of the ghosts of people killed in Ares' wars. Hades last words as the dead tear his nephew apart? 'See you in hell.'

"Meanwhile, Diana and Hippolyta are sitting on the edge of the ruined Capital building watching the cleanup efforts below. The queen jokes that she always wanted to see DC again but never imagined it like this. In all seriousness though, Diana tells her mother that she was right for criticizing her for leaving Themyscira for the wrong reasons. There were many good things about Steve and part of her still loves him, always will. But it's all over and if she's going to be Wonder Woman, if she's going to be a hero, she'd better start acting like it.

"She proves that the next day when she and Etta are taking a stroll in the city. The two friends are talking about everything that's happened recently, saying it's not about the destination but the journey, when they hear an explosion and see Debbie Domaine, the Cheetah, run out of a bank with money bags in her hands. Leaving Etta to call in backup, Diana runs ahead and in full view of the public materializes her suit by means of her lasso. The little girl whom Diana had seen earlier and whom she had taught to be brave squeals, 'Look mommy, its Wonder Woman!'

"Yes it is Wonder Woman and our first story arc of the new run closes with her having lassoed Cheetah, swinging her in and delivering a knockout punch! Freeze-frame... and fade to black.

"So guys," asked an oh-so cocky George Perez, "what do you think?"

Standing ovation is what the assembled writers thought.

**Author's Notes: I should have put this here when I first wrote but... I didn't want to leave you waiting any longer! So...**

**MarkMark: ...More a plot than a story. One of my failings is that I'm a little like George Lucas. I'm great at thinking stuff up, but not always so great at what's next. Part of that, is that I think of things faster than I can turn them into stories. With how, like I said, I have other ideas in the works for other stories, I don't want to risk making "the greatest DC fanfic ever" and then leaving it half finished. (I came dangerously close when I wrote my _Godzilla: The Monster Wars_ series.) Don't worry about Diana, though, she gets over Steve and thanks for your kind words. Good to be back!**

**Sir Thames: Thank you for kindess! DC's biggest mistake, post-_Crisis_, wasn't revisionism (though there is that), it was that they didn't get their act together. If they'd gone Wolfman's route and started everything over, all the continuity contradictions would have been avoided...**

**"Anon": You might not believe this, but I don't hate Steve Trevor. I only dislike the way he was used in the pre-_Crisis_ DCU-and the whole point of this story is [the effects of] the Crisis doesn't happen. There, he was a chauvinist pig and worse, Diana let herself be dragged along. I understand how it would work but they'd have to break up sooner or later. I hope you like what I wrote about their relationship in this chapter!**

**Guys, that's all. As for the next chapter, the outline is already going to rough draft, so don't worry. See'ya soon!**


	11. Ch 9: Stop a Bullet Cold

**Chapter Nine: …Stop a Bullet Cold…**

**Place: Offices of DC Comics, New York City**

**Year: 1986**

"Perez," said asked Schwartz, "you said that because Diana left Paradise Island for Steve, she never got all her strength back after he died. Here in your story, however, she's over Steve and broke her chains. She's beaten her kryptonite. Perez, are you going to make her stronger?"

"I most certainly hope so! For years now, we've said that if an Amazon is bound by a man she becomes no stronger than any woman in this man ruled world." The writer raised an eyebrow at that. "Marston actually had Diana say that back in the Golden Age. Now, that does obliquely address sexism but it also implies that women without superpowers—and in our world, that's all of them—are useless. Breaking the chains using mortal strength sends a message; every woman can be a Wonder Woman."

_Young Turks, they never think these things out,_ thought Schwartz. "George," he chuckled, "aren't you thereby undermining your own premise by giving our girl even more superpowers."

He felt himself blush. "Yeah, there is that but…" He stopped to think for a moment. "But, inasmuch that Wonder Woman is a symbol her new superpowers symbolize the strength of women."

Schwartz smiled. _Clever boy_.

Buoyed by the editor's look of approval, Perez continued. "When it comes to who's the strongest superheroine, fans'll often say Supergirl or She-Hulk and that's alright. They are both inspired by the two strongest heroes so it only stands to reason that they'd have the same relative power level; however much stronger Superman or the Hulk are than an ordinary man, Kara and Jennifer are that much stronger than an ordinary women. Ultimately, however, this is just wrong. Supergirl and She-Hulk should be strong but no superheroine should be stronger than Wonder Woman. In changing this however, it need not be arbitrary.

"I've mentioned O'Neil's Wonder Woman stories earlier but this will be somewhat more specific. In 1968, he killed Steve and robbed Diana of her strength thus ushering in the I Ching era with our heroine as globetrotting secret agent."

Perez saw the new Batman editor groan. "Aw c'mon Denny, it wasn't that bad. There were some good stories there that we can use and if there were some lemons, we'll just use them to make lemonade."

"How?"

"Like this. Diana's beaten her mental block when she broke the chains and stopped Ares in the big fight I just talked about, right? Well a while later we see her in a car with Etta when the tire blows. They get out of the car and Etta goes to change the tire while Diana holds up the car… but when she picks it up, the car rockets up into the sky until it disappears. It ultimately crashes with no casualties but needing some explanation."

O'Neil pricked his ears at that.

"She's shocked by this sudden spike in her strength but that's not the end of it. Diana goes jogging… and she accelerates, going faster and faster. When she finally stops, she's catching her breath in Pakistan. Later, she asks Etta if she looks ok and Etta says yeah. 'Maybe I haven't seen you eat all day, but why?' Diana responds that she hasn't eaten in the last month. She hasn't had anything to drink, she hasn't slept, she hasn't even breathed and she feels fine! And _then_ she finds herself walking on air, just a few inches off the ground; she practices cartwheels, hovering, spinning sideways like a wheel. And before anyone asks, yes, she can ride on air current but she can't fly. Not until now at least.

"See what I mean Denny?"

O'Neil laughed. "You make good lemonade!"

"You ain't seen nothing yet," boasted Perez. "But, back to the story. She wants answers and goes to her mother, asking the mind controlling Queen Hippolyta if there's some other secret she withheld. Hippolyta admits she deserves that but says that this time at least, she innocent. She even wraps herself in the Lasso to prove she's telling the truth. Wanting answers, Diana goes to the temple and prays to Aphrodite. The goddess of love appears to her granddaughter and tells her that Gaea's blessing is upon her."

With that, many of the DC writers there look confused. Roy Thomas in particular scoured his brain. _Gaea, where have I heard that name? Somewhere in Bulfinch's _Mythology_ but_—"Now I remember!" he whispered. "George," he said in a normal voice, "while we've all heard of Zeus and Hercules, some among us haven't done much more research into Greek mythology. More detail please?"

"Gladly. She is Zeus' grandmother and, along with son/husband Uranus, the first of the gods. The Earth Mother and her son the Sky Father had many children such as the Cyclopes and the hundred handed giants. On seeing the freaks conceived by his incest, however, Uranus chained them in the underworld; since Gaea is the Earth itself, he in effect shoved them back into their mutual mother's womb when they were born. Crying for her children, she armed one of her more beautiful sons, Chronus, with an adamantine sickle to overthrow his brother. Alas, he proved no better than his father in this respect with how he tried to kill his own son Zeus. He failed of course. Greek myth portrayed Gaea as the oldest surviving god and seemingly the most powerful, though of course Zeus held the second role officially. It should be noted that she was in constant conflict with the patriarchal Zeus and that a version of Chronus already exists in the DCU as I showed in _Teen Titans_.

"Diana, of course, already knows this; she was raised from birth to be the champion of the gods. What she didn't know until told by her grandmother Aphrodite was that the clay from which she was formed was a pound of flesh that Gaea gave up. That was because she had hoped to create the ultimate champion in Diana, one greater than _all_ the gods, greater than even Zeus, in order to restore the divine feminine. When Hercules, Mercury, Aphrodite, Athena, and the rest gave their gifts, so did Gaea. Her power amplifies all the other gifts but is only now manifesting for only now is Diana ready.

"As visual shorthand, perhaps Wonder Woman could grow a little taller as a result of Gaea making her stronger. She looks at Superman eye level and he says something about her wearing heels… and she bites her lip. She's not wearing heels."

A few furtive glances aside, Perez saw everyone else nod. They wouldn't be so magnanimous for what he said next. "I was also thinking of giving her the muscles of a female bodybuilder."

"What!"

"Are you serious Perez?"

Ignoring the sick looks from various writers, Jeanette Kahn told everyone to stop their complaints. Nevertheless, even she was put off and asked Perez to repeat what he said.

"You heard me Jeanette. Increased muscularity would force readers to realize how much stronger she is now. And why not? Male superheroes look like male bodybuilders don't they? Why shouldn't at least some female superheroes look like female bodybuilders? Think about it. Someone like Batman, who should have gymnast's physique and doesn't even have any powers, is drawn like Mr. Universe but when it comes to women not even She-Hulk is drawn as anything more than a supermodel. I want to change that."

Kahn's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets. "You mean twenty inch biceps and veins popping out? Cobble stone abs? Aren't you afraid that we might scare away fans if we turn Diana into Rachel McLish or Cory Everson?"

"With how Wonder Woman was created to challenge gender norms, it's a risk worth taking. After all," Perez mischievously told DC's publisher, "are we so chauvinistic to believe that a woman can't be strong and let the world know it?"

Jeanette Kahn laughed good naturedly at that. "Touché. I'm still not sold on that George but you make some good points there. We can talk more about it later. I had a question though abou—"

"Can she have bigger hooters?" They all turned around to see who asked that and saw inker Wally Woods. "When _All Star Comics_ introduced Power Girl, I, um, was the inker and I kept increasing the size of her breasts, y'know to see if anyone would catch on… Damn but when I was done I gave her a set of fat titties! Since, y'know George said Wonder Woman is superheroine number one, she should have even bigger chi-chis than Power Girl." He held his hand over a foot in front of his chest. "Breasts this—OW!"

Rubbing the red spot on his forehead where Kahn had thrown a pen, a very heavy pen, he whined, "What was that for?!"

"For being an idiot!" shouted the publisher. "Junk like that's the reason women think comic books are immature trash. What am I saying, junk like that's the reason _everybody_ thinks comic books are immature trash. And no, as long as I'm the boss, Wonder Woman will not wear French-cut thongs and Power Girl will not have a cleavage window!"

Despite a few sour looks, crestfallen artists mumbled their acquiescence.

"Overgrown frat boys," grumbled Kahn. _Twenty years later and I'm still babysitting punks…_ She looked to Perez and said, "At least you got your head screwed on straight George." She narrowed her eyes, however, when she saw a naughty smile spread across the man's face. "George…"

"Y-yes!" the startled man said. "Yes of course we should never stoop to such low down means of raising sales!" He looked away with a disappointed look on his face. "Never." _Better get back to work before the boss gets even more suspicious_. "Like I was saying before we got sidetracked, Wonder Woman has gotten much stronger we see how much when she asks Superman if she can use his weights. So they go the Fortress and she curls 500,000 ton building sized barbells in a hyper gravity chamber. She's sweating as she flexes her muscles, though not too much, and asks Superman to increase the gravity. He sheepishly says that he set it on neutron star level gravity five minutes into her workout." He smiled. "She never even noticed."

A man who never forgot a piece of trivia like neutron star gravity, Bridwell took out a pencil and did the math. The results staring back at him from his notepad? "Seventy billion megatons…!" he breathlessly whispered.

"Like I said before," continued an oblivious Perez, "Wonder Woman can now fly outright, no more riding the wind. While she was always closest to Hermes of all her male patrons, she thanks Gaea for increasing her flight abilities and her speed so many times over. The same is true for what she did for Hercules' gift of strength. Sub-light speed and planet smashing for Diana.

"She's the world's greatest fighter partly due to Athena's gift. She's also a master strategist, leader, and diplomat. She speaks dozens of languages, has perfect recall, and is the equivalent of a PhD. All this, of course, doesn't mean she got off easy. If she is the best, it's because she constantly trains herself in both body and mind. The goddess of wisdom and of war gave her tremendous potential but it was Diana herself that realized it.

"The most precious of her original gifts, however, is her grandmother's. I'll say more about my initial skepticism on love and beauty being superpowers but for now I'll say that if Diana is a hero, its due in large part to Aphrodite's giving her granddaughter a heart of love for every living thing. In more practical areas, Aphrodite's gift grants Wonder Woman the power to see into people's hearts. She's not a telepath, it's more passive than that, but she can look into the soul of any sentient being. She can feel their pain, see their memories, and know if they're telling the truth.

"New powers will include the power to talk to animals. The TV show came up with that and it's a nice touch; I can say that's a gift from Artemis, goddess of the hunt and of beasts. Artemis also gives her super senses like eagle eyes or wolf's hearing, etc. Demeter the earth goddess, in conjunction with the Earth goddess Gaea (Earth with capital 'E') gives her the regenerative abilities and the invulnerability of earth. Her agility, reflexes, stamina, are all suitably upgraded. As champion of the gods, she has teleportation to magic realms and is stronger than most superpeople against magic."

Marv Wolfman was confused. These new powers... Did Diana always have them in Perez's new continuity, did she have them and now know it, or did she not have them and is only now getting them? He was about to ask when Schwartz bellowed, "It doesn't work!"

"Why not?" asked a stunned Perez.

"Because if she's bullet proof why does she need bracelets!?" The editor looked around with a sour look. "Anyone willing to give our guy some ideas?"

Roy Thomas looked sympathetically towards a chastened Perez then back at Schwartz. "I wrote _Thor_ over at Marvel and had the same problem; Thor being tough enough to survive an atom bomb but blocking bullets with his hammer. I kept for it being a nice visual. It would be a shame to get rid of Wonder Woman's deflecting bullets…"

"We're not loosing that visual," said Perez cheerfully, "so don't worry about it. Firstly, I never said she was bullet proof. Secondly, bullets won't ricochet off her like with Superman but they will be meaningless. For example, she's stopped some bad guys from stealing military ordnance and she's giving them some kind of speech. That's when a sniper takes aim with an electromagnetic rail gun and fires a full metal jacket armor piercing round made of spent uranium, the heaviest metal around, at seven times the speed of sound. And the bullet hits her right between the eyes leaving her to go down!"

Perez paused. "Law of averages: she was bound to miss a bullet one day.

"The bad guys see this and cheer. They killed Wonder Woman! When they see her get back up, however, they stop cheering. When the bad guys see her just pry the flattened slug from her skull and the bullet wound close instantly, they know it's over. _She stopped a bullet... **cold**_.

"They panic and get behind some Vulcan cannons, the guns they put on fighter planes. The three collectively fire 19,800 bullets a second but Diana just rolls her eyes and walks into the metal storm! All the other crooks run except for one last punk who runs up to her and pulls out his pistol… and throws in the towel when he sees Diana smile. She wanted to make a point; the point is made.

"And, of course, she's rubbing pain relief ointment all over her body when she goes home. Just because you're super tough and have rapid healing doesn't mean you can't get hurt. The bracelets, then, still have their uses. Besides, as indestructible as they are and as strong she is, can you imagine if she boxed someone's ears with them? I'm also planning to say they're made from Zeus' Aegeis which was in turn made from the hide of the she-goat Amalthea who nursed him as a child. If so, then in them she holds the lightning."

_So clangs them together and shoots lightning bolts._ "Good save," conceded Schwartz, "but what about the Plane. If she can fly now, why does she need the Invisible Plane?"

"The easiest way out is to use it like in Armored Personal Carrier." He saw uncertain looks on some faces and added, "They look like little tanks; soldiers need to go somewhere and they pile into the Carrier vehicle. When the soldiers arrive at their destination, they are fresh and relaxed and ready for battle. Same thing for Wonder Woman; she could go to Mars under her own power but she would arrive exhausted. If she uses her Invisible Plane she'll get there faster and strong enough for whatever challenge she might face.

"In fact, when she has to go to another planet, it's the only way. Already Amazon tech at its finest, Aphrodite gave it faster-than-light power back #261 so if she has to go to Thanagar or Oa, she hops into the Invisible Jet/spaceship and off she goes. Otherwise," Perez intoned, "even at light speed…

"As for what else it can do, the Plane might be useful for carrying passengers or cargo; yes, she could jerry rig some kind of platform Bobby Kanigher style but let's not do that now. With how tinkering by Gremlins in a recent issue led the Plane to develop sentience, we can also say it can morph into shapes. If she needs to carry more passengers or cargo than it can normally carry, it simply stretches or if she has to go underwater, it turns into a submarine or if she's going around town it turns into a motorcycle. With how I'm also going to be drawing this, I'm going to have a lot of fun!"

"The Lasso is her most precious gift, however. Its long been part of the Champion's weapons; Hippolyta had it when she was the 'wonder woman' of World War II and Artemis had it as the 'wonder woman' of Ancient Greece. Now it's Diana's. Like I said, she already has the power to see into people's hearts courtesy of Aphrodite, her grandmother, but it's the already indestructible, magical lariat that helps for focus that power. That's partly because it was built by her step-grandfather Hephaestus

"That's actually kinda cool," said an eager Conway. "I was wondering though, are you going to keep the stunts she pulled with the lasso. Y'know like lassoing the corner of a building and ordering it to retract so it can pull her up. Or that time she wrapped two atom bombs with the Lasso to contain the blast!"

"Or the time she used the twirling Lasso's harmonic waves to put out a fire!" Perez laughed. "No, I'm not going to say those things didn't happen but don't plan on seeing those kinds of stunts in my run." He grew thoughtful. "For the most part."

Wolfman asked his old friend, "What about the tiara? I remember her using it like a boomerang. Was it also built by the gods?"

The writer shook his head. "No it wasn't. There is some magic around it to keep in mint condition for all these thousands of years but it's a royal symbol, not the Champion's weapon. That doesn't make it any less useful though.

"Guys, I want to wrap this up and move onto the villains so I might as well go out on a bang," said Perez. "So let's imagine that Wonder Woman goes to a mega gravity planet that dwarfs Jupiter to find out just how strong she is. It is one giant piece of pure granite with no atmosphere, that's bombarded by radiation, and has no living things or even the potential for life. It's where the Green Lanterns Corps trains its recruits and various aliens test their latest weapons and so on. Diana's there and walks up to a mountain ten times higher than Everest and closes her eyes; she calls on all her training, she psyches herself up. Knowing it's now or never, she punches the mountain with every last ounce of strength she has. When it's all over, she opens her eyes and is shocked to find herself floating in space surrounded by an asteroid field. That's right folks; she smashed an entire planet to rubble! She trembles for a moment… and then she stops to smile and kiss her bicep.

"Taking a page from Maggin, this is Wonder Woman. If Superman, by sheer virtue of his being the first and greatest of superheroes, should be the most powerful of superheroes, then Wonder Woman, by sheer virtue of her being the first and greatest of all superheroines, should be the most powerful of superheroines, perhaps infinitely so. In _Superboy_ #140, the _Boy_ of Steel saved thirteen planets and the billions on them by chaining the planets together and pulling them away from their dying suns across the universe to fresh new suns. I'm not saying we should see the adult Diana roping together forty planets in her lasso and pulling them from a black hole or see her destroy a solar system by sneezing but I am saying that she's the greatest.

"In Maggin's cosmic Superman stories, he says that Superman is the chosen one of the Lord God Almighty, even meeting God Himself in his in continuity novel, _Last Son of Krypton_ and in other stories like "Sword of Superman." Thus paraphrasing Bob Hughes recent Superman article in _Amazing Heroes_ #96, Wonder Woman will go from being one of many (female) super beings from a super island, to being the ultimate pinnacle of womanhood. Diana the goddess named is become the star child, the Daughter of the Heavens, predestined from the dawn of all time to be the center point of history. Her legend will grow until the end of time when her daughters will rule the universe. She is the chosen daughter of Gaea and when we see the glimpses of the Earth Mother, she will have Diana's face so that all may know in Diana is the seed of all the gods for she will one day stand outside of time and become Gaea herself."

All were silent, all were still, in awe of these words and it would have remained so if not for Denny O'Neil. Remembering how it all began, he let out a low whistle. "That's a whole lot of lemonade!"

**Author's Notes: Hi guys! Calling to say that I'm back and that, sorry to say, the next chapter, one about Wonder Woman villains, might take a while. Unlike the earlier chapters, I don't have the next one plotted out and so will be making it up from scratch. For now, however,**

**Sir Thames: As always, thank you for your kind words. :'-) As for starting everything from scratch, if only DC had listened to Wolfman...**

**MarkMark: Glad you like it and... looking back I realize that there was a bit of a recap at the start. A true artist's skills can always be improved! I'll be more careful in future chapters. And while this may be about stopping bullets cold might the upcoming villain chapter be about the Axis fold? ;-)**

**"Anonymous": With how they reveal **a cowardly bully, t**he whole point of Ares in myth is the stupidity of war. When the Greeks wanted victory, they prayed to Athena. When they were slogging through mud and blood and seeing their friends get killed, they blamed Ares. With that for hate and now for love, something I always liked about pre-Crisis WW was her worshiping a goddess of love and (in the context of DCU) a goddess of altruistic love at that. (And something I raised was an eyebrow at was her unequal relationship with Steve... :-O )The Power of Love, pass it on!**

**Wolvmbm: I'll answer them all for everyone's sake. :-)**

**1) I understand that DC was desperate to get WW back to normal though on the good side, it led to lots of stories. For them and me! Here a major part of the WW ideas will be Diana coming to grips with her mom's brainwashing her. I never thought about it till now but a nice idea would be to have Diana face her white suit past! I've already cited the white suit era story where Ares attacks Paradise Island. Maybe WW re-adopts Diana Prince as a Matches Malone alias or she greets I Ching's family (the good ones at least.) The idea from the white suit era of the worlds of myth being pocket dimensions is something I do want to use.**

**2) Yes, I have thought of Cassie! If you play close attention, the big fight with Ares is based on the climax from the WW animated movie. The girl whom Diana finds crying in the park and who reappears at the end is unnamed both here and in the movie but can you guess what her name is in the novel adaptation? ;-)**

**3) Like I said earlier, a whole chapter for the villains is in the works!**

**4) I initially thought about Hippolyta being the Golden Age WW though recently, I've been thinking of changing that in order to keep Lyta Trevor AKA Fury as the daughter of an Amazon. More info in the future.****  
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**5) As for Superman villains... you have a point. I did leave the other guys untouched. Perhaps Julius Schwartz might call out Magoon for that!**

**Well, that's all. Until next time! :-D**


	12. Ch 10: Make the Axis Fold-Part 1

**Chapter Ten: ...Make the Axis Fold—Part One...**

**Place: Offices of DC Comics, New York City**

**Year: 1986**

"George, I was thinking about what you said right now about making Wonder Woman stronger," said Schwartz. "Aren't you afraid of making her too strong? Even Magoon there has trouble with Superman on that part."

Perez heard Maggin grumble about it being power vs. dilemmas and felt a stab of sympathy for the man—the curmudgeon never got his name right. "It'll be OK Mr. Schwartz. Back in the Golden Age, Marston said that the bracelets keep an Amazon's strength in check lest she abuse it. That was why back in the old days, we said that if she ever took off her bracelets an Amazon would go be possessed by insane berserker rage. I could work with that.

"Besides, while she'll be getting Superman's strength she won't be getting his invulnerability. Remember the scene where she survives machine gun fire only to be left aching all over for a week? Lack of invulnerability means she can't use her full strength anyways without hurting herself." He checked his notes. "Example, in #302 she was trapped in a cave and had to wrap her fists in her lasso before she could punch her way out."

"Steel hand, glass jaw?" asked Schwartz.

"Pretty much. She might need that strength with what she'll be up against. I plan on Cheetah being able to lacerate Superman with her claws and if she can do that, a direct hit on Wonder Woman would leave her guts splattered on the pavement."

"That's not right," protested Gerry Conway. "I created the current Cheetah, she could never do that."

Perez smiled. "She can now. Like I said before, it's time to go on to the villains. Honestly, without a bad guy to fight, what's the hero going to do all day? I want to reinvigorate Diana's rogues' gallery which, honestly, never really recovered after the Golden Age. The Silver Age failed to use them and the Bronze Age really only had one heavy hitter, Ares—except back then we all called him Mars. Everyone else was a repeat cheapie like Mouse Man or a Golden Age great who made one appearance before fading back into obscurity.

"Not this time, however," he said after leaning in over the table.

The other writers smiled and kidded with each other about that. They still remembered Perez acting out the big battle between Wonder Woman and Ares' forces. They were hoping for another good one!

"Like I said before, I initially wanted to start everything all over and I still think it would have been a good idea but if we're going to build on the past instead of rejecting it, let's do it right. Wonder Woman's rogues gallery will have its time to shine either by retooling exist villains or by creating new versions whole cloth.

"The first on our tour is Ares. When all's said and done, Ares, or Mars as we've called him, has always been our chief villain. He has to be. He was the god most reviled by the old Greeks for bringing suffering and death, for feeding on human misery. Ignoring the stories I've planned and focusing on what's already published, however, we've only seen his full potential for evil in the Denny O'Neil story I mentioned earlier. With a grim script and an artwork that made him look ready to tear the head off a newborn baby and eat it like an apple while his mother watched, that was perhaps the most intimidating version of Ares to date.

"I've decided to play on that and the copy boy here is distributing drawings I've made to show how I imagine him." Schwartz visibly winced when he saw the monster wearing blue/black hoplite armor adorned with spikes and skulls. A helmet kept his face in shadow except for glowing red eyes. When the old man heard that Ares was so evil that you'd want to kill just by looking at him, he believed it. "It's worth saying that in Marston's original version, Diana was sent to save the world from Ares and the second world war that he, in part, had created. I plan to bring that back, the idea that he is the reason that Diana even exists. It was Ares who is ultimately responsible for the destruction of the original Amazon nation and thus indirectly responsible for the Amazon nation as it exists today.

Schwartz laid down the horrific drawings and challenged Perez. "Aren't you forgetting something George, that Ares is, um, you know DEAD?" the man asked sarcastically

"But Mr. Schwartz you've gotta know that nobody ever really dies in our business! Yes he is currently suffering in Hades at the hands of everyone his wars ever killed, but he'll be back. But until then, we'll focus on his children but he'll always be in the background until the time is right for his inevitable and horrific return."

Schwartz smiled. The response was acceptable.

"To this we meet the minions. In the myth, Ares was mostly aided by his daughter Eris, goddess of Discord, and his sons, Phobos and Deimos, gods of fear and terror, and yes they made an appearance in O'Neil's story. In the comics, Mars/Ares' classic minions are the Duke of Deception, the Lord of Conquest, and the Earl of Greed. Since the Marston Era they've made cameos but mostly 'Dukie' who Kanigher recast as an actual Martian out to invade Earth." Perez noticed the looks people gave and said, "Marston had Ares operating on planet Mars so I suppose it's not that big a jump." A conspiratorial look suddenly came across his face. "In fact, the Duke was green now that I think about it…"

Leaving his idea hanging, Perez resumed his talking. "Now, if part of this new DC Universe we're constructing means building on the past instead of rejecting it, then why not combine the two versions? It could work. In the story that reintroduces them, the one where he attacks Washington DC we see Ares calling his kids. 'Enter Phobos, the Lord of Conquest; enter Deimos, the Earl of Greed, enter Eris the Duke,' at which point the Duke who had been a crippled old man morphs with a flourish into a woman, 'or Duchess of Deception.' The last one especially works with how both sow pain and division by their lies. Revealing that Eris had successfully disguised herself as a man all these years shows just how good a liar she is.

"As recorded in the myths Eris was the worst of the war god's brood because she turned brother against brother. Half her father's wars are wars she started. Every act of bigotry, every act of hatred, anything that divides humans and sets them against each other is her doing. Human lives are just toys to her and she plays rough.

"Thus once the intro story with Ares is done we see her and her brothers on the run; with how they crossed the line and contributed to his son's death, grandpa Zeus is out to get them. (In her case, perhaps the contribution was deliberate…) Eris knows that if he went easy on them before it was for Ares' sake but that now its suicide if they show their faces on Olympus. None of the other pantheons will take them in for fear of incurring Zeus' wrath; if anything, they'd capture Eris and turn her in. The Sons of Ares terrorist group held the only people who'd take them in and the SoA was completely destroyed in the Washington debacle. Half are dead and half are in jail.

"Desperate, they hide out in their old base dad built into Mars's Olympus Mons which truth be told not even she has used in years. Eris wistfully remembers that he was a bit of a ham. She also remembers how she and dad enjoyed quality bonding by instigating a Martian world war that destroyed all life on that planet. Well almost as the Manhunter is on Earth now. Maybe she even morphs into her old green skin Duke of Deception guise as she recalls this. That's the same with destroying a world; you can only do it once. Eris, Phobos, and Deimos can't even stay on Mars much longer as they know that Diana is coming.

"As a war goddess, Eris is no pushover; she has the requisite super strength, magic, etc, of any deity and was trained by her father in every act of violence he knew. A goddess of strife's greatest strength is her craftiness, however. Of the three Children of Ares, Eris is the brains so she figures that they have to lay low either by disguising themselves as mortals or by possessing the bodies of mortal hosts. You might say they have secret identities; Eris is working behind a desk with her brothers as field agents gleefully sowing pain and misery all night long."

"I don't get it," said Conway as he shifted in his seat. "Wouldn't Wonder Woman figure it out?"

Perez shrugged his shoulders. "Not at first though; Eris is too smart to leave incriminating evidence. Besides," he sighed, "considering man's inhumanity to man, why would Diana get suspicious? Recent authors have shown her as somewhat jaded by Man's World." _If I had my way, however, I'd reboot her from scratch and be the total innocent that _would_ get suspicious._

"Eris is forced work on the sly as a publisher of trashy tabloids and gossip rags, not that she minds, however. Ruining lives is her bread and butter. Erin Bellona, gossip monger, corporate shark, and regarded by every newspaper in the DC Universe as the sleazy queen of yellow journalists. Worth saying, however, that unlike how I reimagine Priscilla Rich, Eris's corporate schemes will only ever be a means to an end, six minutes of her day, maybe less. For example, when Wonder Woman decides to invite outside observers to see Paradise Island, Eris has her agents secretly mix in Apples of Discord—the kind she used to start the Trojan War—to see them tear each other apart. She might go to Ireland and fund both sides in the Protestant/Catholic struggles."

Roy Thomas asked, "Why? Doesn't she want someone to win?"

Perez shrugged his shoulders. "No. She helps all sides because she doesn't want anybody to win. She keeps it going to keep raising the body count. We might also see her working behind the scenes helping out oppressive regimes like North Korea or terrorists like those Mujahedeen wackos in Afghanistan."

"What!?" Miller shot up from his seat and roared. "Listen up hippy, I don't know what crackpot rags you've been reading but you take that back!" O'Neil grabbed his sleeve to pull him down and furiously told him to stop but his words were ignored. "Denny I know you're alright but don't think I'm going to let that feminist trash talk the Afghans. They're real heroes fighting to free their country from Soviet Union."

"Okay, fine, Eris isn't backing the Mujahedeen but maybe she's backing thugs like Shining Path, the Contras, or the Tamil Tigers. How about that? Is that ok Frank!?" On seeing the man grumble something about liberals, an irate Perez shook his head and reviewed his notes. If he could read O'Neil's thoughts, he wouldn't have been surprised.

_I don't about anyone else, but now I _know_ that Frank voted for Reagan. _Another thought then crossed the Bat-editor's mind. "What about Sons of Ares? Who are they and will Eris be recruiting them?"

"She won't Denny for two reasons. Firstly, it's too obvious; like I said, for most of my run I plan on her laying low. Secondly, I want the SoA to be a force in its own right; I'll give more details later on. For example, now that I'll be having Diana move past just supporting the status quo to changing the world, part of Eris' laying low is her starting an anti-Wonder Woman smear campaign. Done right, if she protests non-violently, how could Diana oppose her? I can imagine a conservative leader objecting to Wonder Woman's perceived left wing meddling working hand in hand with Eris/Erin Bellona who objects to Wonder Woman being there at all. Bootleggers and Baptists as the saying goes."

That was Perez' intent but it was a later writer named Greg Rucka who finally had Erin Bellona challenge Diana to public debate. "How dare you?" asked gleeful the war goddess as she feigned outrage. "Superman doesn't tell people how to vote but here you are playing missionary and telling them how to live their lives! Go on, say it! Tell the audience watching that they're so wretched that they can't solve their own problems. If not then leave ordinary humans alone you Mary Sue!" Facing that Catch-22 proved instrumental in an ever later writer—Gail Simone—reviving Wonder Woman's Diana Prince identity. (And though it took over fifteen years to see the light of day, yes, Rucka had Diana, who _of course_ was above such tawdry pop culture references, look up the phrase Mary Sue after the debate.)

Back in the present, Perez said, "An example of just how evil Eris really is seen with how she 'created' Edgar Cizko, AKA Dr. Psyhco." He paused before continuing. "Ms. Kahn I **really** want to bring back Wonder Woman's _Sensation Comics_ so I can tell origin and side stories like this without slowing down the momentum of the main book. It worked for _Teen Titans_."

"And I only gave the go ahead for _Tales of the New Teen Titans_ after the main book made it." She pursed her lips. "If _Wonder Woman_ works, I'd be glad to approve an extra book but not before. But back to the story, what about Dr. Psycho?"

He inwardly sighed on hearing that. "His first post Golden Age appearance was in Wonder Woman # 160 where he was effectively a joke character. That's a disappointment as he can be much more. Building on both his Golden Age origin and what Roy here said a few years ago when he wrote Diana," a pleased Roy Thomas flashed a grin, "his story begins as such.

"He was born Edgar Cisko and suffered a terrible childhood due to his various deformities. He was short and physically ugly and while his family loved him, the world did not. He was constantly bullied and humiliated growing up; it was the girls' taunts that hurt him the most, though. He ignored their insults by burying himself in his studies and ultimately passed medical school with flying colors.

"For a time, he enjoyed success. He had money—doctors, even ugly ones, are always rich. He had fame—he was the scientist who proved beyond any reasonable doubt the existence of telepathy and other psychic powers. What he didn't have, was love. Though he had long ago resigned himself to his fate, professional friendships and occasional admirers weren't enough to fill his heart. That's when Marva Jane Gray came.

"She loved him. She admired his contributions to society and his cheerful personality. She even found his physical deficiencies attractive; she said it was because it was because she was tired off all the he-men that kept throwing themselves at her. She was his right hand and helped him develop his latent telepathic powers. They were soon engaged and this, by far was the happiest time in Edgar Cisko's life. It was almost like a dream, like it was too good to be true. The tragedy was that yes, it was too good to be true.

"It all came crashing down when he saw Marva cheating on him with professional athlete Ben Bradley whom she urges to steal millions from the college lab. On top of it, she frames Cisko for it, convicts him with her testimony, and takes advantage of his giving her bank account to steal his money! She even rubs it in by saying money was the only reason she thought to marry him.

"Thus, the innocent Cisko seethed behind bars for years, planning his revenge while developing an intense hatred of all women. It was only compounded by how his expanding mental powers forced the thoughts of every thief, murderer, drug dealer, and rapist in that prison into his mind and drove him mad. The first thing Cisko (or Psycho as we should call him) did on escaping was to torture then kill Bradley; the second was kidnap Marva and then hypnotically force her to marry him. It was their original wedding date and if he couldn't have what was promised to him in love, he would then take by force. Even if her body was frozen, her mind was completely clear through the entire ordeal."

Perez saw his editor-in-chief wince at those words. Which woman wouldn't? "Psycho continued his descent into madness and dragged his sham wife down by subjecting her to daily occult experiments to expand his power. Mind reading, mind control, mind _rape_, he's like Freddy Krueger except he doesn't have to wait for you start sleeping! He enters her mind, beats her half to death, and when he goes back to the real world, he sees her covered in blood and bruises. The experiment was a success then.

"She eventually dies but on piecing it altogether, he sees that the Marva he violated was not the one who wronged him. The second Marva was completely innocent; she'd never even seen him prior to the day he knocked on her door!" He snorted. "Not that Psycho cared by that point. Even so he was determined to find the real Marva.

"He eventually learned that it was the war goddess Eris—sower of strife—that did it; not a big leap for someone who had always believed in magic and the gods. On confronting her with all this, however, she doesn't understand. She's ruined thousands of lives and asks if he could be more specific? When Psycho whimpers, 'You don't even remember?' she knows there's only one thing to do.

"She said, 'No Ed, I don't remember though from how you describe it I probably was me and as for why, it was for the hell of it. I'm the goddess of strife; making people miserable is the only thing I know how to do! As for you in particular, well why not? When I want to ruin someone's day, I go eenie-meenie-miny mo and you're just the poor dumb sap I picked. Listen and listen good because this is the only time I'm ever going to pay attention to you. The day I destroyed your life was the worst day of your life but for me… it was Tuesday.'"

Marv Wolfman fumed. "That evil b—!"

"No, no!" interrupted Miller jovially. He looked across the round table. "We gotta keep clean for the kiddies, don't we Mr. Schwartz?"

The old man just rolled his eyes at Miller's sarcastic remark. "Thanks Frank, have a nice day, but seriously George, Eris is shaping into a real nightmare!" He raised a water bottle and said, "Here's to seeing Wonder Woman putting her in her place." Perez was glad to see Marv and a few others raise their bottles too. Schwartz took a drink and then paused for a moment. "A toast to Dr. Psycho too!"

"Rock and roll!"

"Long live the midget!"

"Yeah, long live the crack head munchkin!"

Wolfman just shook his head. He set his water bottle on the table and said, "C'mon George, tell us what happens next?"

"No problem old friend. On hearing this, the bottom falls out of Cisko's world. He had thought that as wretched as his life was that there had been a reason, maybe he didn't like it but there had to be some kind of purpose! Now, to hear that his life was just some cosmic joke is the last straw. Love, hope, compassion, they're all lies. Dr. Edgar Cisko is dead and only Dr. Psycho, a grotesque monster deformed in body and soul, is left.

"And that leads into Silver Swan. Who remembers her!"

"I do." Roy Thomas had been paying close attention, especially when Perez said Hippolyta had been the JSA's Wonder Woman. _I'm going to have to change that_, he thought. _If an Amazon was there in the war, then Fury can keep her classic origin but not if that Amazon is Hippy_. "After all, I made her. Conway was a big help though. Two things. One, you're keeping Psycho's appearance in her origin story, right? Two, since Silver Swan was supposed to be the perfect woman are you going to continue what I did, and contrast her against the misogynist Psycho?

"Pretty much," replied Perez. "Dr. Psycho's Silver Age appearances are provisional; only his appearance in the recent #288 is iron clad. As for the Swan… Helena Alexandros was a nice young girl with the sweetest voice you ever heard and the dance skills to match. Unfortunately, most men were too shallow to see that and could only see her ugliness. She's dumpy, she has acne, and stutters when she speaks normally." He saw the confused look on their faces and Schwartz make a _keep-going_ hand gesture. "I've done the research; some people do stutter but sing well."

He cleared his throat and reviewed his notes before continuing. "She was the ugly duckling who cried herself to sleep, wishing she could be the swan. Ballet was her only way out but after overhearing the director refusing to put her in the lead role on account of her ugliness, despite being the best dancer, she stormed off and raged against any god who would listen. Unfortunately, that god happened to be Ares, her very distant relative; he revealed to her that she was a direct descendant of Helen of Troy, originally Helen _of Sparta_.

"Ares gave his great niece her mother's beauty and sonic attack. Not that Roy knew anything about this neat little mythological tidbit about her magical voice; no, he'd never do the research!" Thomas innocently fiddled his thumbs at that friendly ribbing; he'd told Perez of his extensive personal library. "The war god even gave Helen control of birds by tapping into her bestiality."

Keith Giffen looked around the room furtively on hearing that. "George, what exactly do you mean by 'bestiality'?"

"Zeus was in animal form when he mated with Helen's mother." Perez wryly grinned. "Can you guess which animal?" He chuckled when he saw the looks of disgust on everyone's faces.

"I wonder why nobody why nobody worships the Olympians anymore," Schwartz sarcastically commented. "Any comments on that George? Seriously, though."

_…I honestly didn't see that last part coming_. "I… do have plans for the role of religion but later. Well, aside from the above powers, she also has, or had flight, control of men, and super-strength. Ares took it all away when she failed to kill Wonder Woman. That's what Roy said and it makes for a great back story to what _I_ say. Helen won't be there until maybe the sixth issue of my run but when we next see her, we will see a woman willing to do anything in order to beautiful again… even dealing with Dr. Psycho."

"That little freak!" snapped Kahn. "George, you must be crazy to write that…"

"I'd like to think crazy like a fox. Sad to say we don't have many superheroines; even Diana is only rated as a great _female_ hero. That's like saying Diana is only good for a girl. Instead, women in comics are often just passive love interests and never characters in their own right. If there is a woman superhero, she succeeds by being sexualized because if she isn't she either turns into a sidekick or a corpse."

"Hey, I get it!" Thomas snapped his fingers. "Silver Swan can be strong and beautiful but only in a man's service. She wants to have it all, to be sexy, to be strong, to be gutsy; she wants to live out some power fantasy. Male comics fans have their power fantasy in every hero but—!"

"But a woman sees herself treated like a sex object." Kahn smiled. "So I'm guessing that makes Dr. Psycho a comment on sexist writers who will let their creations be their own women but only if they prance around half naked for the audience's lurid pleasure." She leaned across the round table and held her hands in front of her chest. "Prancing around with breasts _this_ big, eh Wally!"

Wally Wood silently hung his head at his boss's laughter. The bruise still hurt.

Diana's new writer snickered. "You got me figured out boss lady. Psycho uses his ectoplasmic powers and contracts cybernetic experts to turn Helen into his Frankenstein sex toy. I plan on plotting and drawing Wonder Woman's main book but if I get _Sensation Comics_ I plan on Rob Liefield drawing Silver Swan right there.

"Liefield? Who the heck is that?"

"I admit he hasn't officially done anything for any publisher Ms. Kahn but he's shown me his work at the last con and I brought samples of his female characters." He motioned for the copyboy to pass some papers out and saw the horrified looks that came across everyone's faces, Jeanette Kahn especially. Good!

Waists smaller than their necks, breasts bigger than their heads, curves so "curvy" that the woman should be hospitalized for spinal injury, and so scantily clad that you could see every deformity… Schwartz felt his blood pressure rising. "If this hack had shown me his porno," thundered the editor, "I'd have had him shot!"

Kahn steadied the old man. "Julie, wait." She took another look at the picture and grinned as she realized the truth. "This Liefield _is_ a hack… but I think that's the idea. Liefield is Psycho is every greasy fanboy…" She pointed towards Perez. "We have Eris right here!" (When fans praised Liefield "ingenious" Silver Swan commentary on the sexualization and objectification of women in comics years later, he honestly didn't know what they were talking about. Dark Age of Comics, indeed.) "Aw man, I'm actually starting to feel sorry for him with how you're going to set him up!"

"Don't. At least this way we can put his 'talents' to use in a way that actually makes sense."

Schwartz let his anger cool, but _…Making something deliberately bad! If this Liefield guy is coming in, I'm glad I'm going out!_ "George, with how you're making Silver Swan so sympathetic I'm guessing she's going to reform by the end. Maybe you draw the story where she reforms and she goes back to her original looks, not a supermodel but much more beautiful than the freak Liefield will be drawing." He saw the man nod. "Great, wonderful, but what about Sons of Ares? You've been talking about them but nothing concrete. This is the villains' time to shine."

He saw Schwartz' face visibly lighten as her left Silver Swan behind. _Can't please everyone I guess_. "Like I've said, Sons of Ares is a religious fanatic terrorist group with a long history of serving as the war god's personal army. They didn't start out that way, though.

"In ancient Greece they were most common in Thrace and Sparta as soldiers and anyone else who made a living through violence. They were killers but they weren't necessarily evil any more than an infantryman in the Army or the Marines is evil. Its best summed up by Plato: Only the dead have seen the end of war. Every Son of Ares, whether a good man or bad, whispered a prayer to him when he went into battle because what Ares represented, war itself, had to be respected for its power to shape civilizations. Of course, you should offer a sacrifice or two to Athena but in the end, war was her brother's domain. She, after all, merely aids victory; war will happen with or without the passive goddess.

"This changed with the adoption of Christianity, more on the interplay of religion after the villains. Across the Greco Roman world, people renounced their old gods, Ares included, in favor of Jesus. The more selfish of Ares' worshippers continued their killing sprees; they never saw him as more than a symbol. The nobler continued their soldiering, though now as God's soldiers under His regent, the Byzantine Emperor. As everyone else went away, all that was left of the Sons of Ares was the hardcore that killed for the pleasure of killing and to offer Ares blood sacrifice.

"The Sons hung on until the time of Emperor Justinian the Great. By that time, Christianity, or the Eastern Orthodox version of it, was the only legal religion in the Greek heartland of the surviving Eastern Roman Empire. Sons of Ares waited until Justinian sought to forcibly retake the western provinces the barbarians had stolen in the 400s to launch their own attack. Rape, looting, murder, church burnings, the Sons threw everything they had at the Greeks in an attempt to destroy Christian civilization. They failed.

"The man whom the Emperor chose to combat them, General Belisarius, ultimately defeated those heathen savages and took bloody vengeance. Of those captured, he had nine out of every ten tortured half to death and then mutilated. Every tenth man received the same punishment except he was blinded in only one eye to either 1) feebly help his friends, or 2) let them suffer as he tried to abandon them. Nobody escaped though and they were ultimately brought to Constantinople were they were paraded through the streets. It ended before the new church, Hagia Sophia, where they were forced to renounce Ares before they died.

"Belisarius raised his bloody sword in salute to Jesus Christ who gave him his victory. He then told Ares, 'Hear me evil spirit, I know you're real for it was your black magic that my enemies used against me. Know this and despair that you cannot win against me for I have the True God as my side… and because, next to me, you're a wuss!' With that the Christian general fetishistically licked the gore off his sword."

Perez smiled. "That was the last time in a long time that Ares interfered in the mortal world."

Responses ranged from Frank Miller cheering to sounds of agnostic John Ostrander groaning in disgust. "And my parents wondered why I left seminary," he muttered under his breath.

"The Sons were repeatedly destroyed over the centuries," said Perez, "but they're like rats; no matter how many you kill, a few always escape to start a new infestation. Throughout the early modern age, for example, they sold their services as mercenaries to the kings of Europe and Turkish Sultans, often at the same time. In World War II, their agents saw their biggest opportunity with the Axis powers but were ultimately stopped by the Golden Age Wonder Woman.

"The current incarnation began in the late 60s as a terrorist group made of embittered men looking for someone to blame, worshippers seeking to give glory to their god, and sometimes people who just like killing. With the focus of the current group, Deimos the terror god is accorded greater veneration than ever before; ditto for Eris. At this point in time, however, relatively few Sons are true believers; in the eyes of many Sons, even the 'Ares' who appeared in the Washington battle is seen as just a super powered actor playing the role of team mascot. Regardless, most all believe in what the war god represents: violence, sadism, and that the strong should oppress the weak.

"They way I plan on using them is simple. Every villain can use minions and whenever Ares needs some, the Sons are right there. They literally think he's (a) god! It's the same thing when Diana needs generic cannon fodder; the Sons worship Ares but have their own agendas besides waiting for him to tell them what to do. They might be selling drugs, serving as muscle for any local dictator, teaching an angry young man how to make bombs in his kitchen, or indulging in school shootings. As free agents, they're potentially a threat to the whole DC Universe…"

Marv Wolfman remembered a story he wrote with Perez and shook his head. "I'm guessing that the Church of Blood has nothing on these guys, eh George?"

"They give the Kobra the shivers!"

**Author's Notes: Firstly, I do know that the correct lyrics from the Lynda Carter show asks Wonder Woman to "Make the Axis fall" but I hope I can be forgiven. Making the Axis fold rhymes with stopping a bullet cold. And sadly, I did the research and school shootings have a long tragic history. Having the Sons of Ares do it in the 80s would therefore not be anachronistic. :'-(**

** As I promised, however, the villains. :-) You might have noticed that the title says Part 1; this chapter went on for longer than I planned so I split in two. Here, the villains are mostly either cannon fodder (SoA) or schemers (Eris). Next chapter will be the bruisers. ****Unlike here, however, I actually have it plotted out; I hope it will be faster. So without further ado...**

**Wolvmbm: Boobie windows? What would Rob Liefield say about that! We see a hint of Fury's future origin here and don't worry about Donna Troy. The Justice League of Detroit... let's just say that something's not right when the greatest threat the DCU ever faced was met by the weakest League it ever had...**

**"Anonymous": Your comments are always interesting to read and I'm glad you like the story.**

**Taintedtamt: Always glad to have new blood. Welcome aboard! Thanks for you kind words and as for the JLA (and the JSA ;-), I most definitely have a chapter with their name on it. Haven't thought about stories like _Nightfall_ or _Infinite Crisis_ being affected by this though.**

**Sir Thames: To paraphrase female muscle madman David C. Matthews, there was indeed a time when Rachel McLish was considered too muscular. Nowadays, she'd be laughed off the stage as a 90 pound weakling! ...And yes, I'd love to see Diana drawn like Cory Everson too. Either on her own show or playing Atalanta on _Hercules: The Legendary Journey_, Everson was a childhood crush of mine!**

**BTW I dare everyone to go here ?q=wonder+woman+robb+phipps or ?q=wonder+woman+muscle&offset=0 or ?q=wonder+woman+muscular&offset=0 **

**There be men drunk on the elixir of madness!**

**MarkMark: You have a good point; the reason I delayed a bit was because I rewrote the intro to reflect that! About Wood... I guess I called in the Black Lantern Corps! ^_^;**

**As always thanks for writing and I hope to see you all again very soon. Remember, any questions or comments, just PM me. :-D**


	13. Ch 10: Make the Axis Fold-Part 2-Giganta

**Chapter Ten: ...Make the Axis Fold—Part Two: Giganta...**

**Place: Offices of DC Comics, New York City**

**Year: 1986**

"Imagine the city in ruins. The Justice League and the US military are broken at the feet of a Godzilla-sized red head giantess with freakishly oversized disproportionate breasts, and muscles bigger than a male bodybuilder's. She's destroying everything she sees and people are running for their lives in panic, it's the end of the world! Giganta, they scream… Giganta! Gigtanta

"When she hears the last scream, we see a little girl in a leopard print leotard being scolded by her father for playing 'that silly game' again. She's twenty years old and playing male believe like a child! Four feet tall, weighing ninety pounds, and with all the curves of a ten year old boy, Doris Zeul looks at all the cardboard she's kicked around and mutters that it shouldn't have to be a game."

Perez was worried by the looks on the other writers' faces, Miller especially. "A leopard print leotard? I don't believe it…" he growled. "…You're bringing in _Super Friends_?"

Perez smiled. "Well why the heck not?! The cartoon version of the character gives Wonder Woman a more believable challenge than our version. As silly as Justice League light could get, the origin it gave Giganta is better that our evolved gorilla origin. Besides," he said more pensively, "more people know about the TV version the character than will ever know about the 'real' comic book version. Honestly millions saw that show and keep seeing it thanks to reruns but Giganta only made two post Golden Age appearances in the comics!"

Bridwell cleared his throat. "Not so. She made a third appearance in a book I wrote."

"Really?" Perez checked his notes but he couldn't find anything. Still, if Mr. Trivia said it… "Which book was it?"

"_Super Friends!_"

Eyes were rolled. "My point exactly."

Schwartz pounded the desk and called for order. "All right George, you've said you piece on the cartoon now let's say something about the villain you're revamping. And don't turn it into a freak show!" he quickly added.

"…Sure. Doris is the daughter of scientist Dr. Franklin Zeul, an evolutionary biologist famous for experiments that turned a gorilla named Giganta into a human woman. She has since been turned back into an ape and sent to Gorilla City but she hasn't left Doris' thoughts. Unlike other girls her age, Doris doesn't have anorexia, she has 'Bigorexia' thanks to a medical condition that stunted her growth. She's consumed by self loathing at being so small and weak and consequently stood in awe of gorilla Giganta's size and strength. She dreams of being that big and why not; she has red hair like the gorilla girl doesn't she?"

"Aside from 'cosplaying' her character," said Perez, borrowing a phrase from the fans, "her size fantasies extend to having seen _Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman_ a dozen times and being the world's greatest authority on the film. Posters, autographs, props, interviews with the actors, she has the works. To that end she also has a collection of stories of folklore and sci-fi giantesses. She follows Rita Farr's Elasti-Girl adventures religiously and one of her most treasured possessions is a signed Elasti-Girl poster. She's even a fan of female bodybuilding and goes to their shows regularly. She's also a brilliant student at her father's university; she's determined to be the biggest at something. It's while she's on a camping trip in New Mexico that Doris becomes the biggest at everything

"There, she sees Tyler Long Shadow, an Indian from a long line of Mescalero Apache chiefs, on a vision quest. He's been fasting and meditating and then when he's ready uses the knowledge given him by his grandfather to claim his birthright. All Doris sees, however, is that he sprinkles some magic powder to grow fifty feet tall; with that, she knows she just has to have it. She storms camp and steals the powder at gunpoint regardless of Long Shadow's pleas. Nothing will get in her way, not when every dream, every fantasy she ever had is within reach. With that every fantasy she ever had comes true… and that includes rampaging through the city. She's drunk with power and is determined to pay back everyone who ever insulted her for being small and show them—and especially herself—just how big she is.

"Wonder Woman happens to be the nearest superhero and she immediately goes to the rescue. The man who called in her help was Franklin Zeul, however, and his words remain in her ears. Doris has had this fantasy in her head for so long that she doesn't know what's real anymore. Point in fact, I plan on drawing one panel as homage to the famous _Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman_ poster; you know the picture, a freeway overpass between her legs, she's holds a car in her hands. The only difference is that here she's grinning.

"So the fight is on as Doris 'Giganta' Zeul throws down with the only woman in the world who can match her strength and she seems to win… until Diana brings in her secret weapon, Tyler 'Apache Chief' Long Shadow. She had contacted Long Shadow and he plays his part of the plan by growing that much bigger than Giganta. (They do have the same powers but he has years of preparation.) She tries to get bigger, she strains, but she can't and bursts out crying in a nervous breakdown. She sobs uncontrollably and screams, 'It's not fair I I've gotten this big and I'm still little! I'll never be big enough!' Traumatized, she shrinks to her original four foot size; she's so much smaller than her oversized clothes that they fall off and leave her naked. Her father Franklin Zeul is there and covers her nakedness with her coat. He comforts her and they wait as the police arrive."

"Another sympathetic villain who reforms?" asked Schwartz.

"Yes and no. In creating a brand new Giganta to replace the old one, I _am_ more sympathetic to my characters. I don't intend for Doriz Zeul to ever be truly bad. She has no plans for world domination, she's not a sadist, or some career criminal. Still, with how she basically ruined her life when she destroyed half the city in her 'little' rampage, there's no place for her in polite society. As confused and angry as she is, she makes an easy mercenary. She works as three hundred foot tall dumb muscle for money and to indulge in destruction just for the heck of it. There's another darker reason; she's so haunted by her previous smallness that she wants to lash out at everyone just prove to them—and herself—that she's bigger than everyone. All this is why Tyler Long Shadow tried to keep her from the magic.

"Its only when she starts running towards growth instead of from smallness that she finds peace. Long Shadow knows that what's done is done and that the most responsible thing he can do is help her. With that help, she comes to terms with the fact that, in absolute terms, there will always be someone bigger than her but as long as she's the biggest she can be that's enough. Long Shadow even teaches her not to be ashamed of her original smallness by showing her that she was already a giantess where it mattered the most," Perez touched a hand to his chest, "in here. If anything, she even lets herself shrink back to her original four feet now and then just for the heck of it."

Jenette Kahn asked, "Exactly how big can she get? And what's up with her looking like a bodybuilder?"

"Doris Zeul 'normal' size is still a skinny and underdeveloped four feet tall; it has it uses when she wants some perspective or if she has to go undercover as Nancy Archer." He saw one person laugh at the injoke. "Her default size, however, is between seven to eight feet tall. It's the tallest she can be and live in the normal world—any bigger and she wouldn't be able to go into her house—but the shortest she can keep her giant muscles."

"I don't believe this George!" shouted Schwartz. "What you're going to draw on Wonder Woman is bad enough—and Silver Swan to boot—but another one?!"

"Oh don't worry about it boss," remarked the suddenly supportive Miller. "Giganta's a villain and that means she can get away with being ugly. I say go for it George. Breasts bigger than her head with biceps to match. Hell, have her back be so wide that her arms hang off her body at an angle and give her twelve pack abs to boot. She'll be so ugly that we'll hear the fans cheer from here when Diana beats her!"

"…of course, thanks for the assist Frank." He looked at Jenette Kahn and saw the same sad look on her face that he knew was on his. _She's a villain so she can get away with being ugly? When are comic books going to change on that?_

"Like I said, her default size will be about seven feet, six inches and she'll weigh in at eight hundred pounds."

Kahn glanced at her midsection and asked, "Uh, George, why is she so heavy?"

Perez stifled a laugh at that. _Sometimes the stereotype is true!_ "I figure that since the biggest male weightlifters and bodybuilders come in at about three hundred pounds at six feet, she'd be four hundred pounds at that height. Not that she gets that muscular until she's tall enough. Thanks to the law of mass cubed, her weight cubes for every increase in size—x-many times as tall times x-many times as wide times x-many times as thick—so she's 7'6 at eight hundred pounds.

"In terms of strength, Giganta can lift three hundred tons at her default size so if she wants to get a good work out she needs to bench press five Abrams tanks. Her strength increases proportionately to her size, however. That means that if she grows to the size of the Empire State Building about one thousand four hundred feet, she'll not only be about one hundred eighty times taller, she'll be nearly _six million_ times stronger! Multiply that against lifting three hundred tons and she can lift about," he looked down and checked his notes for the exact number, "…one thousand…" Perez swallowed, "…one thousand nine hundred fifty one megatons…" He looked up with goggle eyes and said, "…forget lifting it, she'd destroy it in one punch!

"Wonder Woman might be strong but even if she were to take her bracelets off and risk using full power, Giganta is the one woman who could match her strength for strength, maybe even surpass her as she gets finding ways to grow bigger and proportionately much, much stronger."

"Not good enough Perez." The grand old man drummed his fingers on the table. "I get the feeling you want to use Giganta as the occasional protagonist and that means a few limits are in order. I've edited a _lot_ of comics in my day and I know that a story it will get real boring if the hero just steps on the villain."

"Fair enough Mr. Schwartz. I've thought about it myself and I'm planning to take a page from Marvel's Giant-Man, the bigger she gets, the faster she grows, or the longer she stays at an extreme size, the more strain she puts on her body. She can theoretically stay 7'6 forever though as her body gets used to it she'll grow increasingly larger. A plot bunny I want to use sees her facing a giant monster trying to destroy the city thus forcing to grow bigger than she's ever grown before. She's pale, trembling, and gasping for breath through blue lips but refuses to go down. By nothing more than sheer guts, she stops the monster and saves the day."

The curmudgeon nodded his approval.

"Make no mistake, however; I don't plan on Giganta being a hero," continued Perez. He turned from Schwartz to look at everyone. "Like I said, she's a little too selfish for that. I plan on her being somewhere between an adventurer and an anti-villain who, if, she does save the day, it's reluctantly. For example, she's going about her business when she sees someone about to fall off a building. What else can she do; let them die? Unless, however, it's happening right in front of her, she's not going to the rescue. She doesn't go looking for people to save—she figures that that's the Justice League's job.

"More often than not, Giganta'll do something stupid just for the heck of it or ambush Wonder Woman on principle. As the only other female who can give her a descent workout, she figures why not. This might sometimes get inconvenient for Diana but with how the Amazons are supposed to be warriors anyways and how Giganta only ambushes her if there are no innocent people around, Diana never holds a grudge.

"She does ultimately finish her higher education but indulges her size fantasies by posing at a hundred feet tall for her adoring—"

He was interrupted by laughter. "Aw man I love this!" cackled Miller. "The freak actually thinks she's beautiful! George, I'm sorry I said anything about _Super Friends,_ I am. Please—_please!_—promise me that you'll have her wearing pink and fretting about her makeup."

"Well, I… was thinking of doing a few things like that." He sighed. Perez had been worried that a few people would treat Giganta like a joke. _Not that I should be surprised. Why can't a woman wanting to be strong be regarded as normal and feminine? _He rolled his eyes_. What am I thinking? If Jane Fonda's exercise videos tapes are scary enough to some of these guys, them treating this is a joke is the best I can hope for_.

That's what Perez thought. What he didn't know was that, in time, he would be vindicated. Yes, after Perez left the _Wonder Woman_, subsequent artists and writers either slimmed Giganta down drastically or kept her as a burly imbecile. Regardless, Gail Simone turned a one note joke into a real character. She emphasized Giganta's modeling career and through it, showed that there were fans who saw her as one the most beautiful women in the world. Giganta would also meet and befriend fellow giantess, Rita Farr. They shared a few adventures together and Farr helped Zeul with her modeling but there was a key difference. For Doris Zeul, being a giantess is more than a superpower and a curse, it was a lifestyle and the greatest blessing in her life.

She was living the dream except for one thing, someone to share it with. She dated a new Atom as part of an opposites attract idea; it doesn't work out. On the opposite end, a date with Apache Chief proved embarrassing with how he barely reached her chest now; it was like dancing with a little boy. That's when she met "Arnold," a noted philanthropist who confessed to a taste in big, beautiful women. He eventually confessed that he was also Aristeus, the last giant of Greek myth; all others were killed by the Olympians in the Gigantomachy.

He explained to her that, with only a few exceptions like Aphrodite, the gods of Greek myth didn't love humans like its giants did. Even after Chronus went mad, he at least treated the humans well and with how the gods were often just bullies, he might be justified in eating them. The fact that the exiled Chronus/Saturn established a golden age in Italy after being deposed by his son proved his sincerity, didn't it? The same can be seen in the Titan Prometheus who tried to raise men out of barbarism in Greece. What Zeus did next is well known.

Aristeus spent centuries disguised as a human and doing good deeds in secret but grew lonely. Human women to whom he revealed his true identity were afraid of his size and the giantesses of various mythologies were dismissive of mortals. Giganta was different, however, as she was everything he ever dreamed of. He wooed her and she gave him her heart because he was the one she had waited for all her life. Franklin Zeul gave his daughter away, Diana served as Maid of Honor, and Long Shadow was the Best Man on the day Giganta wed her Prince Charming.

In time, as revealed in Simone's epilogue, the couple went on to found their own world. Giganta became a second Eve as a race of giants came from her womb. They hailed her as queen and her husband as king and in time as gods as they left the mortal coil. A thousand years from now, the goddess Giganta still watched over her children, among them Gim Allon whom she blessed with the power to shrink down to human size that he might learn humility and friendship with the small ones. For his part Allon wondered why his Legion of Super Hero team mates called him Colossal Boy. If he shrinks he should be Micro Lad!

**Author's Notes: Hi guys. I'm back and sad to say that what should have been one chapter has gone on to become two-or maybe even three. The next chapter is going to be Cheetah and Paula von Gunther. (As some have asked, when I'm done with Wonder Woman, I think I really am going to go back and add some for Superman and Batman.) On to the start.**

**Sir Thames: Thank you for your kind words, a pleasure as always!**

**"Anonymous": Liefield... I don't hate the man. The big reasons why people piled on him was an erratic publishing schedule and bizarre drawings. Being that I only learned of him years after his heyday, all the books I wanted were already printed and as for his drawing style... I actually liked it! I don't know if I was laughing with Liefeld or at him, but whenever I picked up his books a smile spread across my face. I even have his entire run on "Avengelyne!" ... No plans for Dr. Poison yet.**

**Wolmbm: As you can see, Gail Simone is right here in this chapter. ;-) Giganta is right here and Cheetah is coming up next. (Its going to be much better than the throwaway line here. :-D ) Von Gunther will be the third villain to get a chapter. As for the other JLA heroes, I do have plans but if anyone has any suggestions, I'll be glad to listen.**

**Until then, see you all soon!**


	14. Ch 10: Make the Axis Fold-Part 3-Cheetah

**Chapter Ten: ...Make the Axis Fold—Part Three: Cheetah...**

**Place: Offices of DC Comics, New York City**

**Year: 1986**

While Giganta ultimately reformed, the Cheetah was somewhat different. Here, readers saw a savage brute, an animal that saw to it that would never be a friendship between Diana and herself. Sympathetic or not, the Cheetahs were widely regarded as having had one of the most successful revamps in comics. In fact, fans booed Perez (albeit jokingly) at one comicon when he said that, if he had had the chance, he would have abandoned the earlier Cheetahs in favor of some nobody he would have made from scratch, Barbie Athena, or Minerva, or whatever.

In revamping Priscilla Rich, and Debbie Domaine, Perez knew Rich's origin as a debutante jealous of Wonder Woman worked in the Golden Age but by the 1980s, it didn't work anymore. That was because, when viewed critically, all a debutante is, is a woman saying that her only value in life is being someone's trophy wife. Perez would have none of it but the idea of the number one girl being upstaged and left jealous intrigued him.

"Rich was born into a slum amidst whores, crack heads, and thieves," said Perez. "Her only source of comfort was her mother who conceived her in a one night stand with a high school dropout whose name she forgot the next day. Priscilla almost never saw her mother, though, with how she worked two dead end jobs to keep food on the table; she herself was a second mom to her little sister due to their mom's working so much. Not surprisingly, Rich grew up very fast.

"Life was hard, make no mistake about that, but she was buoyed by her mother's faith in the American Dream, that if you worked hard and played by the rules, you could do anything. Mother Rich accepted her fate; like her own estranged mother said, she'd had her chance and she'd blown it. But Priscilla still had hers! At her mother's insistence, Priscilla studied diligently in school and, more by sheer grit than anything else, routinely got straight As. She took part time jobs and joined clubs to form contacts. She started school newspapers, anything to get ahead. She graduated high school three years early as the valedictorian and was accepted into Yale at fifteen. Mom was so proud!

"Priscilla Rich interned at various corporations before finally getting enough money to start her own. For the sake of storyline, it doesn't really what kind of business she started but it was this newly minted multi-millionaire's lifelong dream. It was all shattered, however, because the day of the grand unveiling was the day Wonder Woman made her supervillain smashing debut right across the street. The reporters left in droves to see this new superhero leaving Rich all alone." Perez saw a few sympathetic glances going his way. _Good!_

"There she was," he continued, "choking out the rest of her speech that if you just believe in yourself you can do anything, that dreams really do come true… She herself is living proof of that ideal. After all, she whimpers, 'I'm Wonder Woman.'

"Rich destroyed a hundred thousand dollars worth of fine china when she got home that night. She couldn't believe it! She's the one who went from rags to riches, without super powers mind you! She made it! She's every little girl's role model! And now all of a sudden this bimbo from la-la land comes and takes everything she worked for! Just believe in yourself… Wonder Woman's very existence proves that a lie. No matter how much you believe in yourself you will never fly, you will never talk to Bambi, and you will never be a princess.

"It all came to a head when she looks into the mirror and sees an anthropomorphic cheetah woman claiming that she will give her power to destroy Wonder Woman in exchange for blood. Did the monster mean kill someone? Sweet Priscilla was horrified; she could never do that! The Cheetah said she already has. Rich has a split personality. The surface is the one we know, the sweet all American girl but the second is all the shame of her past, all the disgust felt towards her drop out teen mother. Why was it that every potential rival that could have threatened her died under mysterious circumstances?"

"Why indeed," mused Maggin.

"This Cheetah," continued Perez, "claims to be the real Rich and breaks out of the mirror to attack Priscilla. On taking over, she does indeed do her own costumed dirty work against Wonder Woman but also uses her money and connections to stay above the law. At this early stage in her career, Diana had no knowledge of the laws of man's world and was shocked to see her escape time and again. It's not one sided though as good Priscilla struggles mightily against her evil counterpart; in fact, by the events of #274 it looks like good Priscilla has finally won; she's dying and taking Cheetah down with her.

"As recorded in that issue, Kobra terrorists wanted her power for themselves and on realizing they're too late, they settle on kidnapping her granola girl niece, Debbie. As I plan on revealing, they think maybe she has the power too and they brainwash the eco-activist into an eco-terrorist who will strike the targets given her by Kobra. When I restart the series we will see that after learning about all this, the dying Priscilla Rich had sworn to save her niece even if it meant working with her worst enemy: herself.

"In her mind, Rich meets with Cheetah and asks for her help. Only she, Cheetah, is strong enough to save Debbie. She asks Rich why should she and Rich promises to go away forever leaving her in sole control. On hearing that, Cheetah mockingly asks what's to stop her from just leaving Debbie to die later once Rich evaporates. She smiles. 'Because Cheetah, I know that you love our niece more than you hate me.'

"Cheetah looks away in anger and sheds a tear; she tells Rich she wins. They merge and it begins. 'Priscilla Rich' calls in every favor she has and extorts tips on pain of death until she finds exactly where Kobra is holding Debbie. She storms Kobra base, killing guards left and right, until she finds the cell where they've been keeping her niece between missions. The two Cheetahs escape together but not before turning around to see the base conveniently explode and not before Rich tells her niece that she has something far worse in store for Kobra and its minions: lawyers."

Laughs were shared.

"Rich," continued Perez, "takes off her costume (made from a cheetah she killed herself) for the last time and tells Debbie everything. She tells her about the split personality and that despite gaining strange powers that night, that no Cheetah spirit ever controlled her, that her 'dark side' took control of it. Rich also knows that, barring the rare exceptions, she's through with costumes. That might not be the case with the now eco-terrorist Debbie whose eyes grow wide on hearing about the animal power." Years later when he was invited back to guest write an issue, Perez revealed that Rich claimed the power thanks to mercenary treasure hunter Barbara Minerva—a tip of the hat to what could have been. "If her aunt won't have the power, then she wants it. Priscilla won't tell her to stop wearing the costume but if she does want to do it, she wants her to do it right. Debbie says she's in.

"Thus we see an unholy union of an elder mentor and the young apprentice. Under earlier writers, maybe Priscilla Rich had no real superpowers but Diana had been weaker and our villainess had been wily enough to work around it. Maybe with how much stronger I'm making Wonder Woman, this Cheetah had no realistic chance of facing her old foe on the battlefield but who said she's have to?

"Rich by this point is a self made billionaire whose RichCorps (pun not intended) runs banking and brewing, aviation and automobiles. She's also ruthless creep who'd destroy the Girl Scouts to corner the market on cookies!" Perez stopped for a moment but the look on both Schwartz' and Kahn's faces killed his idea for such a joke issue. "Just imagine a female Gordon Gecko…." _who eats RichCorps brand cookies whilst Girl Scout's are in the trashcan..._ "She has some redeeming qualities, though; she loves at least her niece and believes in meritocracy. She'll give anyone a fair chance and will reward their success—as long as they're working for her of course. By the same token, however, her experience has left her contemptuous of those not strong enough to make it."

Roy Thomas asked, "George, I once thought of bringing in a closeted gay into my Infinity Inc. stories. If Rich will give 'anyone' a chance will something like this happen?"

"Closeted?"

"Hey!" retorted Thomas, "Maybe ten years from now in 1996 we can say it openly but right now, closeted is what works!"

"Oh." He furrowed his eyebrows. "I don't know. She probably would give that man a chance and defend him from critics. The second he fails to earn his keep, however, she'd throw him to the dogs. But in the most media friendly way possible, however!" Perez quickly added. "That leads me to the next part.

"While Priscilla Rich is openly critical of Wonder Woman and publishes hate books against her, her philanthropy, anti-discriminatory practices, and rags-to-riches story actually get people to believe her. I mean yes, everyone in the DCU knows she is a ruthless corporate shark but most people see her as tough but fair. For example, one young woman who went to college on a RichCorps scholarship wrote a Pulitzer Prize nominated op-ed piece about people like Priscilla being the real heroes. The idea was that Rich is more relatable than Wonder Woman and nobler with how she accomplished her goals without the help of superpowers. All of which would be true if not for the woman's skullduggery."

Perez sighed. "Key word. _Would_.

"The fact that CEO Priscilla Rich has a statue of the Devil in her office that's been 'blessed' by an actual Satanist priest shows something." He saw some raised eyebrows and waved down raised hands. "No, I'm not going to have her conjure evil spirits but the fact is that she openly admires Satan. And before anyone starts quoting Milton, she admires Old Scratch not for being some kind of freedom fighter, just the opposite. She admires him for being evil. If the stories about him are true then he really is the ultimate evil and fools just keep throwing themselves at his feet either because they are that stupid and shortsighted or worse. The fools follow Lucifer because they think he's _good_. When Priscilla Rich read the op-ed piece about her being a hero, she burst out laughing; she holds humanity in contempt and the cattle stupidly come to her to be slaughtered. She framed it and put it up next to her Satan statue."

Wolfman was intrigued. He had worked with Perez for years on DC's bestseller, _Teen Titans_ and was pleased to see his old friend had what it took to be a writer as well as an artist. "Like the saying goes, the best slave is the one who doesn't know it isn't free. George what you said reminds me of the plans I had for Lex Luthor, an evil business man who had been Metropolis' #1 until Superman showed up and put him in second place. That won't happen with Luthor staying a mad scientist, but how about when we get the chance, we compare notes on this?"

"That'll be great Marv!" responded Perez.

Elliot S! Maggin said, "I don't know. I already said that Luthor's going to be driven by jealousy, not unlike Cheetah there."

Wolfman stepped to the defense of his friend. "You worry too much Maggin; jealousy is a common motivation. Besides, Rich is less 'noble' than your Luthor. He thinks he's fighting for humanity against superpowered interlopers; Rich just wants to be top dog."

O'Neil raised his hand and added his two cents. "Yeah but the idea of a chick with a cat motif losing her marbles and being possessed by her dark side sounds like what I said for Catwoman."

Wolfman was going to say something when his friend was waved down and told that he'd handle this. "Denny, the 'Rich sees bad Rich in the mirror' thing was part of the story since the 40s. If anything doesn't this mean that you're ripping my little fiefdom? Hmmm?"

There would be bad blood between the Batman and Wonder Woman offices until Perez and Miller & O'Neil retired from their posts. Things were silent until Schwartz broke the silence. "What about Debbie George? You said something about her wanting the power. She's going to be the main Cheetah now that her aunt retired right?"

"Pretty much boss. When she needs someone she can trust to carry out industrial espionage, she has Debbie." He saw eyes rolled from the Bat-camp direction and added, "Yes, it might seem strange that Debbie do this after what Kobra did but Aunt Priscilla is the person Debbie trusts the most. She funded her education from day one and arguably did more to raise her than her own mother. She uses magic to transfer the Cheetah power to Debbie and at the now crazy Debbie's insistence, genetically alters her to more perfectly harness it.

"Domaine is now an anthropomorphic cheetah woman, a were-cheetah for lack of a better term. More often than not, she runs around naked with spotted fur covering her athletic body. Athletic like a ballet dancer or a runner Mr. Schwartz!" he quickly added. "She has a tail and pawed feet but a human face albeit with cheetah ears, a snout, and a cheetah's colors—white face with black tears. If she grows angry her face becomes noticeably more bestial.

"In terms of powers, she has low level super strength; for example, she can lift and throw a small car easily and pick up a locomotive with serious effort. The largest weigh three hundred tons so that's impressive. When it comes to talking to animals she surpasses Diana even to the point of over ruling anything and everything she tells them. (It gets to outright control.) Her claws can also cut diamond and ensure that Diana will have to keep her bracelets. If not for them, she'd be cut to literal shreds.

"Her main power, however, and chief advantage over Wonder Woman is her blinding speed. Imagine two marathon runners; one _might_ be slightly faster than the other if she pushes herself, but said other is able to sprint the entire twenty six miles of the marathon without breaking so much as a sweat. Now who do you think is going to win? Not only does Cheetah have instant zero to light speed acceleration and the ability to run that fast indefinitely, her speed also extends into superior reflexes. As for what that means on the battlefield, what would happen if Jesse Owens got into a fist fight with Bruce Lee? Owens can _run_ faster, true, but in terms of who can dodge punches and throw them back faster, Lee wins that without a doubt. Whenever these two fight, I don't plan on Diana ever leaving without a wound."

"Now that's how a good challenge is made!" Schwartz laughed. "Question however. Priscilla Rich is in it for the money but where are Domaine's motivations? Is she still a crazed eco-terrorist?"

"Yes and no. A villain defined by insanity can get _so_ boring." The Bat-camp stared daggers at Perez' remarks. "Cheetah might not target civilians, but she attaches no intrinsic value to human life. I might show her coming across a burning building and let the people inside die on the logic that there are too many humans as it is. On the side, when her niece tells her about this, the misanthropic Priscilla Rich bursts out laughing in approval. Similarly, for the same reason that she won't deny a tiger its right to hunt, she defends the actions of thieves and murderers on the grounds that, as predators, it is their duty to cull the weak. As a Maltusian, Debbie Domaine approves of abortion, contraception, and euthanasia.

"On the same note, she defends animals zealously. After all, _they're_ the ones in danger, aren't they? She appreciates the sincerity of nonviolent protesters but sees their work, even the Animal Liberation Front's direct action, as nowhere near enough. Debbie knows she can't fight all polluters so she relies on Aunt Priscilla to give her lists of the worst offenders, those whom legal/non-violent means have failed to stop. With Aunt Priscilla's resources and brains backing her up, Debbie's targets usually won't even know it was her that killed them. When she is found out, Debbie can count on her aunt to keep her out of jail by covering her tracks or by covertly helping her break out."

He saw someone raise his hand. "Yeah Gerry?"

"That's something I don't get George. I made the Debbie Domaine Cheetah and I want to know, why would she work like that after I had Kobra capture her? I know I'd just have her run for the hills or something. And why is Rich so worried about the environment?"

Perez shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "I guess that's where we part ways Gerry. Rich chooses her niece's target's selectively; as a rule, they are also her biggest business rivals. I said the same earlier. Debbie knows this and doesn't begrudge her aunt. Debbie has to do her job somehow and, like I said, she is genuinely grateful for all her aunt's done for her so she kills her aunt's enemies gladly. For Rich's part is worth saying that she's been running the world's most eco-friendly major business for years, firstly because she needs the good PR and secondly because, well, she actually _does_ want a clean environment. She doesn't like her employees dirtying up her office building and she doesn't like people polluting her planet."

Gerry Conway chuckled. "Oh, she wants _her_ planet spic and span! Okay, I'll buy it."

"Enough patting him on the back already," growled the grand old man. "Get back to the story Perez."

"Of course, Mr. Schwartz," he muttered. "A strong example of Domaine's eco-terrorism would be her kicking the door down and threatening to kill a poacher in front of his family. He begs her to spare his wife and daughter and she agrees on one condition; he has to tell his little daughter where her fur coat came from: every detail. Crying, he tells her that daddy clubbed a baby seal to death in front of its mommy. He got a baseball bat and hit the baby over and over. He killed the baby seal himself for fun and he laughed as the mommy seal tried to the rescue her baby. He then turned around and shot the mommy seal in front of the baby. The baby was still alive when he cut off its skin. Seeing his daughter throw her coat to the ground and recoil in horror from him arguably hurt worse that what would happen next. Domaine keeps her word and lets the wife and daughter leave unharmed. 'Unlike you,' she says, 'I would never make a child see her parent die.' You can all guess what happens next."

Groans of disgust filled the room and one man said that he was now officially anti-animal rights. When Grant Morrison revived _Animal Man_, similar things were said when he had the environmental protagonist Buddy Baker cheat on his wife with partner in crime Cheetah. Other writers furthered this making her both an environmental terrorist to some and a savior to others. In one famous 1996 story by John Bryne, she teamed up with the citizens of Gorilla City to stop poachers from killing their silent counterparts. When Cheetah summarily executed her targets, however, they couldn't bring themselves to condemn her. In the eyes of Gorilla City's primate citizens, the poachers had been murdering their mentally disabled little brothers and selling pieces of the mutilated bodies to the highest bidder. It's under that logic that King Solovar allowed her to escape when Wonder Woman demanded that he turn her over.

For now however, Roy Thomas kept thinking of Ares. He was the first villain that Perez reintroduced and those just after were myth based like Eris. After that, however, he seemingly forgot one last villainess. Roy Thomas had mostly been quiet but he couldn't let it stand any longer. "Hey George," he interrupted the Wonder Woman writer, "you forgot about Circe!"

**Author's Notes: Hi everyone! Here to say that Wonder Woman is wrapping up despite a few delays. (Those villains really are evil! They kept hogging the spotlight. ;-) The next chapter should wraps up the Amazing Amazon and I can assure you that it will be the last come hell or highwater. After that an addendum chapter for Superman and Batman and then... only God knows. For now however, let's dip into the mail bag shall we?**

**Sir Thames: Thank you for your kind words as always!**

**"Anonymous": ...There's general levity and then there's trolling. If you disagree with x-plot point I'd be glad discuss this in a calm and reasonable manner. Your **views on the role a superhero should play have a significant degree of merit and they inspired my view of the concluding notes to this story. Yet while ******I've tried to ****humor your whimsy, if**** I see another piece of high strangeness I'll have to disable anonymous reviews.**

**Wolvmbm: I don't know really know where Catwoman would be by the 90s... In the wake of _Crisis_, her earlier reformation into a mere adventurer was ignored and she went back to being a villain. The easy way out is to keep portraying her as Batman's forbidden fruit but seeing her reform completely and get into a serious long term romantic relationship (marriage/children) that would be an interesting challenge! (Yes, you'd be right to think of Huntress. :-)**

**As for Two-Face and Poison Ivy, like I said when I wrote Batman, he was largely unaffected by the Crisis and most of the minor changes were for the better. I see no reason to change the post 1986 versions of the characters and other Bat-villains**

**BTW, hope you like Cheetah. ;-)**

**That's all everyone. Hope you all have a nice day!**


	15. Ch 11: Change their Minds & World-Part 1

**Chapter Eleven: …Change their Minds and Change the World!—Part One...**

**Place: Offices of DC Comics, New York City**

**Year: 1986**

"Circe?"

"Yeah George," said Roy Thomas. "I know she's the new kid compared to Cheetah and Doc Psycho but she could work. What are your plans for the wicked witch?"

The writer just shook his head mischievously. "Roy, Roy, Roy, why do you think I've been saving the best for last? Guys, it's true that I haven't mentioned Circe but that's because of my master plan in which she will begin the Twilight of the Gods." People looked intrigued. _Good_.

"When Marston first introduced Wonder Woman in 1941, he used a strange mix of Greco-Roman myth and Buck Rogers, like Hades living on planet Pluto, but it was there. In the intro to his first story, Marston reminded the readers of the World War raging around them and that the Greeks cursed Ares for the strife of violence. Bobby Kanigher changed that. Aside from retroactively saying that Diana's strength was a gift from the gods… nothing. It got to the point that kids wrote in asking, who are these people whom Wonder Woman mentions in her exclamations?" George Perez scowled. "Well you better believe that as long as I'm head writer on this book that that is not going to happen!

"Marvel's _Thor_ shows what I mean. It showed the eponymous Norse god so we see things like Odin and Tyr and see him fight villains like Fafnir and Surter the dragon. Yes he had a secret identity in Donald Blake, an ordinary man who finds a hammer that grants him 'the power of Thor.' In the end, however, he learns that he is not a mortal who would transform into the thunder god, but the actual thunder god who had merely thought he'd been a mortal.

"Wonder Woman has so much potential in that respect. The barriers against myth have been eased up recently with Ares, Aphrodite, and Athena retaking center stage in the comics. We've seen mythical conceits such as Bellerophon and Pegasus, the underworld of Hades, and, yes, Circe. We got to be careful, though. I don't want to imitate Marvel's mistakes by overexposing the gods to the point that they come across as jumped up mortals instead of as the strange far off cosmic beings they should be.

Editor Nelson Bridwell smiled. "What if I told you that there's an issue of _Justice League of America_ where the heroes capture Ares and send him to space jail?"

Face palm. "Mr. Bridwell, please don't ruin my sanity by saying you're serious," he grumbled.

The old man puckishly grinned even further. "OK, I won't say I'm serious."

"Like I was saying," Perez said gloomily, "Ares and Aphrdoite are the prime contenders in this respect with how their mythical counterparts were lovers. We've even called them on very separate occasions Hippolyta's parents. That in turns begs the question on why? Mythic Aphrodite would sleep with every man she could find when she was already married so why then have we consistently shown as an exemplar of purity and goodness?

"The easiest thing would be to just start retconning but even aside from our policy, that would be too easy. The main reason I won't retcon and demote her… The reason I won't," Perez sighed, "is that it would be wrong."

Roy Thomas went to the edge of his seat and listened closely.

"Yes, I do have my own ideas but Aphrodite was given star status Marston himself and I am not going to throw out someone who's been a central part of the Wonder Woman mythos for forty five years just because I feel like it. As is, she is the single most important deity in Wonder Woman because she alone of all the gods is truly and genuinely good. If you look at the original myths you find gods that are all too human. Yes they're bigger than we are but aside from that, so what? Is asking this hubris and will they strike us down for it? Then so be it because if their might is all that makes right then that just proves _us_ right!

"But Aphrodite… with how Marston and every writer since cast her as embodying altruistic love, our Aphrodite is the female version of Jesus!"

"More like the Virgin Mary," interrupted John Ostrander. "Jesus sometimes got angry; Aphrodite never did."

Perez smiled. "So I stand corrected." He paused. "Watch out for John, he'll be useful in what's coming up. Where it concerns Wonder Woman, she might be the most important goddess of all because she gave a newborn Diana a loving heart. Hippolyta did nurture the compassion therein but it was there from the start and so if not for the goddess, Diana might have no inclination to be good beyond what she was trained to believe. Even there, it's the goddess's Law of Love that our heroine was instructed in. It's Aphrodite's gift that made her a hero.

"So imagine that, once upon a time, Aphrodite was the selfish, petty, nymphomaniacal slut of the gods. She was Ares' concubine, perpetually cheating on her poor long suffering husband, Hephaestus. Eventually, Aphrodite has a moral awakening; the heartbroken goddess realizes her entire life had been a waste and so becomes the goddess of compassionate love thus striving to make the world a better place. As to what it was, I'll probably tie this into Hephaestus, maybe the myth where he caught her and Ares in a net whilst having sex. The fact that he stayed loyal to her no matter what shows more love than mythic Aphrodite ever did.

"Thus we see DC Aphrodite, a warm, gentle, maternal goddess who wishes to make amends for previous misdeeds and that puts her in conflict with Ares her former lover. Their children are divided with Eris, Phobos, and Deimos siding with Ares and Harmonia the harmony goddess, Eros/Cupid and Hipployta going with Aphrodite. You might remember, in the actual myth, Ares is Hippolyta's father and therefore Wonder Woman's grandfather. O'Neil again made a point of saying that. In fact, one letter column of the time asked who is the queen's mother and they surmised it was Aphrodite… The story is there we just have to use it!

"Now, I've talked with John Ostrander, he was training to be a Catholic priest before he started writing comics." The man waved his hand. "I've talked to him and he's given me some ideas. I want to take myth seriously but that means I'll have to take religion seriously. That's because that's what the myths were to the ancient Greeks, their religion. Christians of the time knew that perfectly and so would Christians of our time if something like this were to happen today.

"So then imagine a scene on Mt. Olympus and see the assembled gods troubled by Apollo's oracle. Their final fate, he reveals, is one far worse to a god than death; they will be forgotten. At the moment, the god who will replace them confines himself to a few tribes on the eastern Mediterranean but the visiting Egyptian gods tell that that will change, oh yes it will. They remember when Israel's god wreaked his 'judgment' on them; whether it was blotting out Ra's sun or turning Heqt's frogs against her or turning a screaming Hapi's body, the Nile River, into blood, they were helpless. The gods of Egypt admit they should have known they were doomed when Isis used her magic to turn her priests' staffs into snakes; _they were eaten alive by snake staffs Israel's god created_. They weren't even able to save their earthly vicar's son when Israel's god killed him in the last plague. Damnation, it wasn't even Israel's god who killed Pharaoh's and everyone else's firstborn; it was one of his minions!"

Roy Thomas shook his head. "This is heavy stuff George…" he said. "I should have known that you had something up your sleeve!" He then paused. "I want to ask something, however. I'll be working on Captain Marvel. Since Shazam is supposed to be Egyptian could he be the one saying all this? You know, he's there on behalf of the Egyptian gods. From there it would be easy to link to the Greek gods to the wizard Shazam."

"That's actually very clever," said Perez. "I'd be glad to throw that in!"

"Enough with the mutual admiration society!" growled Schwartz. "Back to the story already."

"Yes sir. Back in the council of the gods, Ares thinks to fight this rival deity and so does Zeus; outmatched or not, they have no desire to die. Athena however, begs her father to look for a third option. Gods need the faith of their worshippers to survive and since they can't just worship themselves the solution is simple. Her plan is to create a tribe of mortals inextricably tied to Olympus but it's her half sister Aphrodite who figures out exactly who these mortals will be: the Amazons.

"Athena, despite all her wisdom, fails to understand. Why would they want a gang of self mutilating, baby killing, she-males that go around looking for men to rape as the chosen people? Aphrodite knows why she wants them. She also knows why they followed Ares; old Greece wasn't just patriarchal, it was outright misogynistic. Unlike goddesses who by their very nature have the power to stand up for themselves, mortal women all too often found themselves at the mercy of men who were bigger than they were. In a world where a woman is a man's slave, if the only way to become strong, if the only path to freedom means turning into a homicidal savage, there will be those who'd take it. Aphrodite chooses the Amazons to show the world what a woman can be and to redeem the idea of feminine strength. She wants to show everyone that every woman should be big and strong but at the same time that that doesn't mean that they'll be any less a woman for it." Peres paused for a moment and smiled. "Ostrander introduced me to an old Catholic saying. 'The redemption of the worst is the best'."

Kahn smirked. "'Not even girls want to be girls when all this happens.' You're channeling Marston aren't you?"

"I most certainly am!" replied Perez. "As for the Amazons, they accept Aphrodite as their father's ex-girlfriend but civilizing them gives even a goddess gray hair. She's grateful for Athena's help and slightly jealous to how much more easily the Amazons can relate to her. Among them is Princess Hippolyta, daughter of Ares and of the previous queen, Otrera. Aphrodite knows he'd been sleeping with the royal house long enough for his daughter/granddaughter to be a goddess in her own right and takes her under her wing. Young Hippolyta proves a faithful student when, as per tradition, the teenage Amazon has to cut off her developing breasts and shocks everyone be saying no. Why should a woman have to reject her femininity in order to be powerful? Can't a woman be strong and gentle?

"At this point there are two possible choices. We can see Hippolyta as the creation of generations of incest on Ares part, like I said. We can see Aphrodite physically pregnant by Ares and learn that Hippolyta was thus born in the normal way, even if she was raised amongst the Amazons. Either way, as she grew up and spread the worship of her mother/foster mother; some writers have implied this in the past. Or we might stay with the better known version, Hippolyta, along with all the others, was simply created by Aphrodite who proclaimed the first woman she created to be the ruler of the rest. I'll probably stick with the first. In either case, I imagine that Hippolyta continues to look at Aphrodite as her mother. Whether or not she considers Ares her father, biology aside, I'll leave that to when I get there.

"Then of course we get to the affair with Hercules though now Ares will have a personal stake in hating the Amazons in general and Hippolyta in particular. I see no reason to change anything else though. Goaded by his half-brother Ares, Hercules, determined to put the Amazons in their place, seduces, betrays, and rapes Hippolyta. Humiliated, she's stripped of her clothes and cast into the dungeons. Aphrodite is there and waits for days, perhaps weeks, until her daughter finally swallows her pride and admits that she had been wrong to ignore mother's warnings. With a bit of divine intervention, the Amazons in the end thrash Hercules and escape. After that they gain their bracelets and, after the sea god Poseidon led the way, arrived at what is now Paradise Island.

"They live there in their well named home where love is the answer to every problem, where nothing bad ever happens and nobody ever dies. In the outside world, however, what Apollo prophesied has come to pass as mortals throw the gods aside. They are forgotten and their temples left in ruins. Some of them, however, still stand but only because they have been consecrated to the new god. In an Ephesian temple that had once been the house of Artemis, a lowly beggar enters and weeps as she sees the image of a crucified god born to virgin far holier than the huntress ever was. The beggar is Aphrodite and she asks why it had to be like this. Why did he have to take her people away from her?!

"A stranger then comes, presumably one of the god's priests and comforts her; the love goddess is confused by the stranger's presence. He is a god… but not a god. She asked why the crucified one took away her worshippers. The stranger looks her in the eye and asks point blank were they taken away or did they leave? They speak and we learn that yes, Zeus kept mortals in line and punished rule breakers but what did he ever sacrifice of himself for their sakes? Even ignoring Zeus' moral failings and rank hypocrisy in holding mortals to a higher moral standard than to which he held himself, did he ever really love the mortals? What did Zeus ever do for the human race, not to get something in return, but just out of the goodness of his heart?

"Aphrodite dries her tears and says that if Iesous loved the mortals so much as to buy them godhood at the cost of his life, then it was no wonder the mortals turned away from deities who never loved anyone but themselves. Aphrodite asked the stranger if Iesous really would accept a prayer from anyone, as his priests say. The stranger, clearly an angel by this point, says that the crucified god would_._ Aphrodite then kneels before his image and begins crying. She asks him to love the mortals for her."

Cary Bates raised an eyebrow at that. "Hey George, why so heavy on the Christianity? Isn't that going to make it a little… y'know controversial?"

Before Perez answered the most unlikely of sources spoke up. "Bates," sighed Miller, "if a man hates religion so much that he can't even stand a picture about it, he's got a problem."

"Amen to that brother Frank!"

Miller jokingly cast an evil eye at Perez. "Don't push it."

The old man looked at the new Wonder Woman writer. "What do you say Perez?"

"Well Mr. Schwartz, I say why not. Are we going to say that Greek myths that nobody believes in are real and the Christianity that seventy five percent of America believes in false? Maybe Greek myths are safer because nobody believes in them but if I'm going to take it seriously, I've gotta be fair to both sides. Equal coverage, isn't that all tolerant liberals ask for?"

He smiled when he saw Bates squirm. The Grand Poobah of DC had different ideas. "Perros, that ain't good enough cuz that was then I want now! You've told me about Etta Candy, and stepmom Julia Kapetalis. What about the rest of your characters and the world they live in? Lay down the final countdown!"

_First there was "Magoon" over there and now I'm "perro." Maldicion, I'm not a dog! _However, he knew that orders were orders and swallowed his pride. "Well sir, I do have some starting thoughts on Hercules." He checked the relevant notes before continuing. "Ever since Marston brought him in for the Golden Age origin we haven't really been kind to the man who supposed to be the greatest hero of all mythology. We've mostly had him as a villain in _Wonder Woman_ comics and as a dimwit rival in _Superman_. Kanigher again was the exception; he never mentioned Hercules deceiving Hippolyta and showed that he ultimately had a good heart with how he gave baby Diana his strength." Perez chuckled. "He was still a chauvinistic buffoon, though.

"My plan on resolving all this is to say that he suffered bouts of insanity like the myths said he did. For most of his career in ancient Greece, he was the big hero but there were times when he turned in a deranged lunatic… such as when he deceived Hippolyta. When he snapped out of it he was horrified; the only reason that he had asked for her girdle was as part of the Twelve Labors meant to atone for murdering his wife and children in yet _another_ spell of madness. When he heard of Hippolyta he thought he had found a woman to take the place of his wife and fill the hole in his heart. And then he woke up to realize that he's burned down her house and raped her!

"Regardless of his personal guilt, Zeus ordered him to continue the Labors and his other adventures; mortals need him as their protector from all the monsters that threatened them. After his seeming death in the incident with Nessus the centaur, Zeus healed him and made him a god but Hercules refused to go to Olympus. He asked to be sent to Tartarus; until there was a way to cure him of his madness he had to stay down there for the sake of every living thing.

"Thus it stays for centuries until Hippolyta goes down with a magic spell that Zeus had created to save his son. She would have to as the price for his granting her daughters. Though at first outraged at the thought of saving Hercules, even in order to become a mother, she takes pity on the emaciated and tortured demigod when she sees him and he frees him from his chains. She brings him to Paradise Island and thus the first man to set foot on the island is the same man who raped and humiliated them centuries earlier. He won't ask for their forgiveness because he doesn't deserve it. Even if he was temporarily insane, he was still a misogynistic thug who would have probably done it anyways. Sobbing, Hercules says he won't ask for forgiveness but that he will say he's sorry.

"Moved by his tears, Hippolyta adds her own before shouting, Long live Hercules! The rest of the Amazons all join in, Long live Hercules! He earns that praise when he tries to protect the daughters Zeus granted Hippolyta as per their bargain. Still recovering from his imprisonment, he is too weak to save Nubia from Ares' clutches and is beaten to within an inch of his life protecting Diana. In order to make up for this, he offers to give little Diana his strength and in fact he's the one who cajoles the other gods to give him their various gifts. Thus, despite the occasional backsliding in old issues and the times he was duped by Lex Luthor into fighting Superman, etc. he turns out to be a real hero and a staunch ally to Wonder Woman.

"As for the other baby Hippolyta sculpted from black clay, Ares kidnapped her, named her Nubia, and raised her to be an anti-Wonder Woman on his otherwise all-male Slaughter Island. Again, she has since reformed but in my stories she's still armed with his magic sword. Some of Ares' aggression wore off on her as well as the ability to channel rage into strength; she might also be more willing to fight dirty than her sister. According to my notes she was last aiding native women in Africa so she might get on Diana's case for spending more time fighting thugs than speaking with heads of state and trying to change the world. I also plan on seeing her having a tough time fitting in on Paradise Island with how much rougher around the proverbial edges she is.

"As for the other Amazons, Atalanta was a loyal Amazon before she came to see Hippolyta as a tyrant and left to form a new city in the Amazon. We're going to see glimpses of her and her rainforest city-state as both rivals and allies. They'll be much more integrated into the modern world that the Paradise Island Amazons and will aid their sisters when they too meet Man's World. Among other things we will see their _men_, love being one of the reasons Atalanta left. I already had the idea of a band of rival Amazons founded by Hippolyta's sister but if I'm going to have to use the old continuity, this is a good way to do it.

"There's Paula von Gunther. Now, she has potential, a former Nazi who reformed for the sake of her daughter, Gerta. I imagine she was genuinely evil and in charge of Hitler ubermensch operatives in the war—Captain Nazi, Baron Blitzkrieg, etc. Whether she'll be our version of Marvel's Warrior Woman or she'll be wearing power armor or leading from behind a desk, I'll leave for later. After reforming, she turned herself over to the Golden Age Wonder Woman and has since lived among the Amazons as their greatest scientist. The Invisible Jet is her creation.

"Thanks to 'Amazon training,' however, she and her daughter have both grown that much more powerful, as befits Amazons. Alas, they imbued little Gerta with super strength too soon. Back in the early 1940s, she was a member of the League of German Maids—girl version of the Hitler Youth—where she was taught by the then sociopath Baroness Paula von Gunther, among others, that the strong must rule the weak. As such, while she grew up respecting her now gigantic mother, the adult Gerta looks down at men (literally, as she's grown so much taller than they are) as cripples fit only for slavery. The new Baroness von Gunther thus can't understand why her mother begs her to stop her criminal deeds. 'But mother, I just want to be like you.'"

Schwartz grumbled. "Fine and dandy Perez but what about this 'Golden Age Wonder Woman?' The Diana of that time period was sent off to Earth-Two but without an Earth-Two she's gone! You've been doing well so don't tell me you're going Magoon's route." By this point nobody even bothered paying attention to the scream. "You said something about Golden Age Wonder Woman being Hippolyta so explain it."

"Right boss. Queen Hippolyta," said Perez, "was indeed the 'Wonder Woman' of World War II. Ares and his minions were partly responsible for the war and on seeing this Aphrodite dispatched an Amazon champion to stop him. Queen Hippolyta won the contest and went to America to aid the war effort. Her costume had the tiara, lasso, the bracelets and I plan for the colors to foreshadow her daughter's suit. The press saw her and jokingly called her an Amazon come from the land of myth, not knowing that that was exactly what she was."

"Why?"

"Because we can Mr. Schwartz! She won't ever actually be called Wonder Woman in order to keep that title for Diana, even if she might be called _a_ wonder woman, the champion. It would be a shame to get rid of Diana's past entirely; we've had a lot of fun with the TV show and our own WWII era stories. She can't be there since 40s since Superman has to be the first of his generation but who says another Amazon couldn't have been with the JSA? Why not kee—?"

"Does it have to be Hippy?" blurted out Thomas.

"What?" asked Perez.

"You heard me. George. Does the Golden Age Wonder Woman have to be Hippolyta?"

He sighed. "No, why do you ask?"

"It should be Mala." Thomas raised his hands when he saw raised eyebrows and quickly added, "Hear me out first, hear me out! Your idea is good but it can be better and Fury is why. I made her back in #300 and have been using her since in my _Infinity Inc_. She's the daughter of the Earth-Two wonder Woman and her Steve, pretty much Wonder Girl's counterpart. Obviously if Earth Two is gone, she can't be that Wonder Woman's daughter and I doubt you'll have her Diana's big sister, right? So let's do it like this.

"If Diana wasn't there back in WWII who saved the pilot when he crashed off the coast of Themyscira? Mala! Just because Diana wasn't there doesn't mean she couldn't have been overlooking the sea. She sees the man, rescues him, and enters the tournament to determine the champion that will go to Man's World. After hearing the pilot's story the Amazons fear that Ares has returned after a millennia long absence; something the gods confirm. Thus after a history of existing solely to place second after Diana, Mala finally wins the tournament and becomes Wonder Woman.

"We give Mala all of Diana's World War II adventures, Justice Society membership and Earth-Two stories. Thus clad in the red, white, and blue, Mala steals America's heart becoming every soldier's girlfriend, every father's daughter, every gal next door. After she deals Ares the final blow and helps mop up his Axis cronies, the forces of love are dubbed victorious. She decides to stay behind, however, adopting America as her country as she marries her American boyfriend and starts a family. After the JSA disbanded in the fifties, Mala stayed quiet but came out of semi-retirement when Superman started a new age of heroes.

"When the new tournament is held she loses the title to Diana but the two become good friends, despite their age difference. She's been aging ever since giving herself to a man, though even now with streaks of white in her hair and crow's feet she still a looker and still able to bench press a tank. She's raising Lyta, 'Fury,' Trevor to be a new hero and looks out for Diana. C'mon George, what do you say?"

Perez sat in silence and narrowed his eyes at Thomas. He got up, a grim look on his face, and then said, "Good." He flipped into smile mode. "Very… very good." _Since I can't reboot Diana from scratch, I can't divorce her from the US like I wanted to but with Mala I can give her the flag waving ra-ra-ra. Seeing Mala married and pregnant—miscarriage to keep Diana oldest—is what made her want a child herself… And since I already said Diana's early career was like a fairy tale, Mala's the fairy tale young Diana wanted to… _"Roy you got to promise that I can use this!"

"Sure that's why we're here." A puzzled look came over Roy Thomas' face. "I want to ask about Donna. What are your plans for—?"

Insane cackling interrupted the man. Everyone at the conference looked at Perez who couldn't stop laughing. Kahn slammed her fist to the table to get his attention. "Knock at off George, we already got two Jokers over there!" she barked, pointing to Miller and O'Neil.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he whispered. "It's just…" He wiped away a tear. "It's just… thank God you and Schwartz got this meeting." Composing himself he added, "It's just that I wanted to reboot Wonder Woman from scratch to get everything right the first time. But like I said at the start, getting rid of Diana means that little sister Donna can have no origin. 'Nearly went crazy figuring out alternate history universes trying to give Donna Diana-free origins…

"As is the original origin I gave her still works, a young girl rescued from a burning building by Diana. Needs tweaking with how she was supposed to have been a baby when it happened. Even if Wonder Woman rescued her on her first day in Man's World, there's no way Donna can be twenty-something like I'm having her in _Teen Titans_. With Roy's idea however, maybe it wasn't Diana at all.

"Mala rescued the baby from the fire and when she saw the child had no living family, she took her to Paradise Island. Hippolyta named the baby Donna and raised her personally, thus giving her little Diana a baby sister. Seven years age difference at the most. Donna grows up happily toddling behind her big sister and getting into all sorts of adventures together. Nothing changes when big sister becomes Wonder Woman; she follows, still her sidekick. Hearing Mala's stories of Man's World and the United States in particular, Donna wanted to go and see it for herself. Hippolyta let her go; she wanted her daughter to get in touch with her heritage, so to say.

"With Mala, I can even say where she was when she wasn't saving the day with the Titans!" He snorted. "…Sure wasn't with Diana, that's for sure. Back in the present, I plan on making Donna a regular cast member and actually treat her like the family she's supposed to be. Good God but the TV show did a better job of using Donna as Wonder Woman's baby sister than we did!"

Schwartz cast a stern glance across the table at his nervous victims. "Perez's got a point. Conway, Thomas, and yeah you O'Neil, why didn't you ever mention Donna in any of your stories? According, to this sheet, the only times she popped up in the regular series was in _Teen Titan_ crossovers!" A slight exaggeration, but not by much. "Perez, you gave me your characters now give me endgame."

"Gladly sir."

**Author's Notes: I promised Wonder Woman would end here. I lied. -_-;**

**That wasn't deliberate and I originally meant for this chapter and the next one to be a single chapter. It got so long, however, that I decided to split it. ****The next chapter will end this I promise. (I hope!) ****I also cleaned up some grammar mistakes ****in the previous chapter.**

****For now however, let's dip into the mail bag!****

**"Anon" 1: I see that you are sticking close to topic and I appreciate that. I did write this knowing that the Cheetahs would be more well rounded than perhaps other villains. I, however, do not know of these people whom you refer to. I would appreciate it if you would register so that we could continue this conversation in an appropriate place.**

**Michael Weyer: Glad to have you onboard! Thank you for your kind words and yes, (this is for everyone) despite initial thoughts against it I have decided that I will bring in Flash in a full chapter. Don't worry about Kyle Rayner, though. DC history won't unfold in the same way but there is enough room for more than one Green Lantern. ;-) As for the JLA, yes I do have plans and its going to much bigger than the Detroit League.**

**Sir Thames: Thank you for your kind words. Always appreciated!**

**"Anon" 2: :-D You're very welcome. :-D Something worth ruling over is the reason Priscilla Rich protects the environment. Its also the logic behind the idea that capitalism is Mother Nature's best friend... ****"How dare you pollute my property!"**

**Wolvmbm: ...I actually did say that there was magic. Perhaps I should have been more clear. Simply said, the Cheetah spirit saw Priscilla Rich and tried to control her but she (or at least "bad" Rich) took control of it and stole its power. As for Debbie Domaine, as an animal rights activist gone off the deep end, she was much more receptive to the Cheetah spirit and more able to use its magic.**

**As for cannon Debbie, she went stark raving loony after Kobra took her prisoner and honestly, with how writers wrote her, I don't think she ever bothered asking. With how she was erased in _Crisis_, that's rendered moot I suppose. For _this_ Debbie, however, yes Aunt Priscilla explained everything and even though she is no longer the good girl she once was, she is in full control of her mind.**

**In a race, the Debbie Domaine Cheetah would lose to the Flash (he runs faster than light speed) but in a fight... he better keep on running. ;-)**

**As for being a philosophical rival to Diana... I honestly didn't think of that! Diana has been shown to speak with animals and loving the environment but Debbie _would_ attack for doing far too little when she has the power to do so much more. "You just talk whilst Mother Earth is dying!" I can indeed imagine hardcore env****ironmentalists calling her a hero and saying the same thing to WW's fans. Heck with Aunt Priscilla as a role model, she probably would treat her minions right.**

**As for Priscilla Rich fighting Luthor... Luthor as a skinny Kingpin might be out but read Wikipedia's "Lexcorp" article. wiki/LexCorp See the part where pre-_Crisis_ Luthor (AKA the one I'm using) created a major corporation to front and fund his criminal plans? It can still work-though he'd have to hide behind his alias Lucius Tommytown. ;-)**

**Whew! That's all. Thanks for your kind words and I hope to see you soon. Remember, any questions or comments, feel free to Private Message. Until next time!**


	16. Ch 11: Change their Minds & World-Part 2

**Chapter Eleven: …Change their Minds and Change the World!—Part Two...**

**Place: Offices of DC Comics, New York City**

**Year: 198**6

"Endgame it is then. I've already talked about using the myths to enrich the story. We can also use them to explain how the Amazons have laser rifles, space ships, and telepathic memory machines. We _are_ picking things up from the old continuity after all. Since Aphrodite is their patron goddess, we can just say her husband Hephaestus taught the Amazons about technology and they've advanced it since.

"As to Paradise Island itself, it's a magical island so I'm going to keep the Kangas and bring in creatures from Greek myth. We'll see giant Stygian wasps, Sphinxes, Ladon the Dragon and others of his kind. Harpies too." Bird Boy, someone snickered. "As for domesticated or at least tamed animals, there can be herds of pegasi, a chimera or two to be used as beasts of war, and griffins in the royal stables. In the lakes and rivers of Themyscira also live Naiads and in the forests Dryads who play their days away with the Amazons. We can keep the merfolk colony in the waters around the island that Bobby Kanigher came up with." Mer-boy, someone coughed.

"Beyond that, I'm going to open up Paradise Island. I don't know what other writers were thinking but it makes little sense to preach peace when you're an isolationist." He paused slightly. "No offense," he told said other writers.

"None taken," one said.

"Getting back to the story, part of this will be the Amazons fully integrating themselves into the outside world. Queen Hippolyta will introduce herself at the UN and maybe we'll even see her escorted to the White House by Colonel Diana Prince, a final thank you from the President. And if I'm going to be serious about opening up Paradise Island to outside visitors, the no men rule will have to go. Themyscira will also be racially integrated. I don't think that previous writers and artists showing the Amazons as all white was a deliberate slight, at least not in recent years, but now that I have the chance, I'll change that. Nubia's just the most obvious example.

"As to what they act like, they're ordinary folks I suppose, some good, some bad, some indifferent. I at first toyed with the idea of creating a warrior society but decided against it and that's not just to keep the same continuity. The Amazons do enjoy being so strong and maybe some even like fighting but to say that they'd make war for the sake of peace has a very shallow ring. Remember when Peacemaker made a cameo in _Crisis_? (Which I, in fact, drew!) He said 'We'll kill them all if that's what it takes to keep peace on this earth!' Different look, same lack of logic. There are some hardcore manhaters but when push comes to shove they are still the most loyal and devoted to the bunch.

"As to what they look like, they are Amazons so I imagine that most are as tall as or taller than an ordinary man and will all, as a rule, possess superhuman strength. For example, they're doing some repairs or construction but they don't bother with heavy machinery; they just carry building materials by themselves. When Queen Hippolyta sees some of the weaker Amazons, relatively speaking, struggling to move a sixty ton slab she offers to help. Not surprisingly, she is the strongest Amazon of all—except for Diana and she doesn't count as her strength was magically enhanced by the gods—and is strong enough to hoist the slab into place by herself.

"Also in that Wonder Woman's sixtieth anniversary is coming soon I hope to do a big story I have brewing in my mind called _War of the Gods_ where the gods of Earth's various pantheons have been tricked into battle by the witch Circe and Wonder Woman must make them stop. Roy, you asked for the wicked witch and here she is!" Thomas pumped his first in to the air.

"We'll of course be building up to the big adventure in the years to the anniversary and, if it be the will of God and Mrs. Kahn, I'll stay on long enough for the big finale. Part of this is… a new beginning!" He was crestfallen when he got stony silence. Someone asked what Perez was referencing.

His old/new nemesis snickered. "The super-team did it better with the goddamn Batman."

_Nobody appreciates my humor_ thought Perez. "In the wake of the revelation of her mother's deception," he groused, "of the Crisis, of breaking up with Steve, of losing her secret identity and the big fight in DC against Ares, Diana decides to abandon conventional superheroics in order to focus on what she's supposed to be doing, changing minds and changing the world. With Paradise Island opening up to 'Man's World' and looking to get UN membership, Diana is her people's natural ambassador. I plan on Diana the diplomat operating out of New York City being the default version for a long time. She's worked there from # 179-269, 1968-1980, so the Big Apple is familiar stomping grounds to her. She's also familiar with the UN having worked there as Diana Prince though now the princess goes there for very different reasons.

"Not everyone in the DCU, both hero and civilian, will like the new direction. They might compare her new 'agenda' to the apolitical Mala who bent over backwards to be a good American. She's since permanently moved to the US, become a good citizen, and has consistently voted Republican," he added. "Diana's critics will see her as something of a buttinski and dream of having the old Wonder Woman back, a Wonder Woman who just did her job with no strings attached and never told anyone who to vote for.

"She's no political demagogue, however. In religion, for example, she is scrupulously respectful. A posh Catholic couple asks for to be their baby's godmother and she stuns everyone by refusing. When asked if she thinks she's too good for them, she says it's because she's not good enough. If she doesn't call Yahweh her god how can she profane the ritual of baptism by pretending that she does? She sponsors a friend who she'd met earlier in the story arc saying that the child's godmother must be able to raise the child in the faith. When the ceremony rolls around, we see her there watching and smiling as the godparent vows to make the child a good Catholic."

O'Neil grinned. "Looks like she believes in Christianity more than most Christians."

"You don't know the half of it! Back in Puerto Rico where I was born, the only reason babies get baptized is so that all the adults can get stone drunk at a baptism party that the child can't even appreciate because it's asleep in a crib… But enough with my complaints," sighed Perez.

"As for _her_ religion it has indeed died out in Patriarch's World though there are Greek polytheistic reconstructionists trying to revive it. Guys, I'm serious!" he blurted out when he saw the surprised looks on people's faces. "I read that over in Greece there are newly minted Zeus worshippers trying to bring back the old faith. As for their fictional counterparts' relationship with Diana, they hail her as a prophet and some even worship her outright, much to her embarrassment. For most of them, the day she descended from the sky to land at the door of their only formal temple of worship to read the works of Homer and Hesiod and tell them of her adventures was the greatest day of their lives. It was faith rewarded and they were the first invited to Paradise Island when it opened its doors to the world.

"She is friendly with Hindus due to their shared polytheism and I plan on showing her praying in shrines to Ganesha, for example. In both religion and politics, Ambassador Wonder Woman will forge close ties with India. She also has a working relationship with the Christian right and I'd like to see her at the Vatican meeting Pope John Paul II. As for meeting the gods, this is where it gets interesting!

"Apollo's oracle not only forsaw the eclipse of the gods, in modern times it also predicts their possible death. Zeus decides to prepare for this by making a pact with the gods of the various other pantheons. He chooses as his ambassadors Hermes for his being the messenger of the gods of Greece and Diana for her wisdom and her experience with the mortal world. Things have changed drastically since the glory days and they need someone with feet in both worlds.

"The first step on the tour is Heliopolis, home of the gods of Egypt, where they speak with Osiris and Isis." Perez smiled when he saw a thoughtful look cross Thomas face. "As a psychopomp, Hermes leads on to the land of the dead where he and Diana are greeted by falcon-headed Horus. He asks Diana to pass on a message to Hawkman; he wants the hero to know that he appreciates his keeping the god's face alive. She gladly agrees and she, and Hermes, goes to meet Horus' parents and tell them of Hades' recent fall from grace. For his duping Ares into digging his own grave, Zeus stripped him of all his power and sent into exile. He is currently working as a mortal undertaker in a non-denominational funeral parlor. As such, the Greek underworld has no king—and no queen either as Persephone followed her husband into exile.

"At the moment, it's taking everything that Minos, the literal judge from hell, to keep the demons and the damned in check. And that's with the Eryines, harpy like vengeance goddesses, serving as his enforcers! The land of the dead is in turmoil without a strong hand to bring order. Using her silver tongue and golden heart, Diana manages to convince Osiris to become king of the land of Hades. He transforms into Serapis, the guise by which the Greco-Egyptians of Alexandria knew him, right there and volunteers." He paused. "With how the Greeks and Egyptians sometimes worshipped each other's gods and included them in each other's myths if any two pantheons would be friends, it would be these two.

"She also meets and hammers out a peace agreement with the Aeseir. With how they, and their Valkyries, particularly Gudra, frequently aided the Germans in World War II, some Amazons don't trust them. This is doubly so for Mala who takes the place of Golden Age/Earth-Two Wonder Woman who Gudra historically fought. Diana is more willing to take a chance—she remembers how some Valkyries fought by her side when she rescued Paradise Island from Ares. It's not friendship but cold peace is better than cold war.

"It's worth saying that despite having worked on the character back when I was at Marvel, I have no plans for plagiarism. To differentiate the two, our Thor will be closer to the myth. You know, red head and bearded, happily married with two wonderful kids. And to scramble things up more, Odin—in continuity with the myths and Marston—is a grim god of death who causes war so that he might play soul reaver amidst the slaughter. …And Loki is more conman than villain, an all-get-out pain in the neck who has a habit of getting everyone in trouble, and a habit of getting everyone out.

"Diana will befriend the Hindu deities as well as well as those of other pantheons. Y'know, I imagine her room in Themyscira's New York embassy will wind up having statues of every god known to man! Heck, she might even meet with the Spectre to start not a religion but a relationship with Jesus.

"All this, however, will be needed because Circe is coming. DC's had lotsa Circes going as far back as the 1940s. However, there was never any attempt to synchronize the various versions appearing in _Superman_ and _Captain Marvel_. In all honesty, she was inconsistent even in _Wonder Woman_. As such when she is reintroduced, Diana learns that she has never faced Circe, not really. All the other Circes she or anyone else ever faced were merely her agents. The real witch decides the time for hiding behind lookalikes is over and that its time to show her face.

"She's the daughter of the Titans Helios and Perseis and is the former princess of Colchis. It's on the Black Sea over in the Soviet Union," he added. "Circe's also the most powerful witch in the world having learned everything Hecate—her second mother and goddess of black magic & ghosts—could teach her. From her father and both her mothers, she learned to hate Olympus. On her parents' part, they remembered the old days before Zeus stole their kingdom; her father Helios, in particular, never forgave the usurper for taking away his solar chariot and giving it to the upstart Apollo.

"As for Hecate, she was herself an offspring of the Titans and for that the Olympians always considered her an outsider. That was seen when her husband, Hades, arbitrarily divorced her and made her slave to his new wife Persephone. She's since abandoned the world, willing her soul and her power to her most devoted servant Circe. The witch has lived in seclusion on the island of Aeaea ever since killing her brother King Aeetes and destroying Colchis on a whim. That, of course, is where she had the fling with Ulysses. Since the days of ancient Greece where she has increased in power and in terms of the unseen empire she has spread across the world. Now she knows the time is right to strike.

"She of course hates Olympus' champion. I imagine halfway through my run we'll see Circe for the first time and see her capture Diana. Of course, Etta and stepsister Vanessa will go to the rescue. DC's resident Greek superhero, Olympian might help them. The big story will happen when Queen Hippolyta decides to open Paradise Island to and establish full relations with the outside. Her mother giving a speech at the UN is meant to be Diana's high point and it is… until Circe frames them for crimes they didn't commit.

"It will be a mega-crossover event with a four part mini, _War of the Gods_, and the main series taking center stage. Various other titles will tie in… with Ms. Kahn's permission of course!"

"If your issues leading up to the 'big finale' are good enough," she said, "then certainly."

"Thanks! We will see Circe framing the Amazons for various murders and using her bestiamorph agents in various world governments—US especially—to turn the people against them. Remember the mythical Circe and the comic book versions that have appeared before could turn people into animals. But why exactly is Circe doing all this? It's because she knows as a fact something that others only faintly grasp; she sees that Wonder Woman is bound for godhood, Gaea level elder godhood at that. Diana is Gaea's chosen and has given her power beyond reckoning. Circe sees this and wants it for herself, first for the powers own sake and so that she might crush Olympus once and for all.

"She's been sowing seeds of discord and Diana's increasingly less effective diplomatic efforts aside, the witch's efforts are about to bear poisonous fruit. Most every pantheon by that time has sworn a vow on non-interference on the mortal world and has kept that vow for centuries. (Some had no choice as their ex-worshippers put themselves sunder the aegis of you-know-Who.) Now, however, they are convinced that the uppity mortals have to be put in their place and the old days when said mayflies groveled at their feet be restored. To the degree they fight each other, each pantheon either thinks that the other one threw the first punch… or they just like killing things and see the chance to do it.

"Wonder Woman sees this and recruits the aid of our other mythological heroes like Olympian, Son of Vulcan, Captain Marvel, and of course Wonder Girl and the rest of their family to try to put a stop to the end of this madness. It's no use as Olympus is locked in mortal combat with Asgard, as the gods of Egypt revenge themselves on a secularized Israel, as the cruel gods of Babylon gleefully offer Saddam Hussein their services against any and all comers. The only gods who manage to keep their act together are those of India who arrive to shield their worshippers from the madness. Outside of the Indian subcontinent, if you have faith in a god greater than those strange idols, you are safe. If not, you're doomed.

"However, all the gods are ultimately descended from Gaea, the planet's first deity and share her power. Thus when the gods go on a bloody rampage against each other and the planet, Gaea grows increasingly weaker. Circe waits until the elder goddess is sufficiently weakened to steal the power. When that happens, Diana stops where she is, falls to the ground, and clutches her chest in pain. That's when she sees Circe, now an unstoppable power mad Titaness, use her new strength to level whole cities. The pantheons are in ruins, the superheroes are forced to retreat, and the world militaries are in shambles. Diana sees all this and knows what she has to do. She takes off her bracelets, walks past the wounded up to the witch to say,

"'I know how good it feels being so big and strong. To see your muscles swell so large they look like they're going to burst out of your skin, to fly into the heavens and to crush mountains in your hands, to know that literally nothing can stop you, to know that everything else is so much cardboard. But there's a difference between us, that you use power to do whatever you want and I don't.

"'You have no idea how hard it is to be that strong and to still try to be good. Always holding back, always afraid you might break something, break _someone_, knowing that you'll have to spend the rest of your life in a straight jacket because if you lose control even for a second somebody would die! But you know what, _I don't care anymore!_ I don't care if I kill you; in fact, that's probably what I'll try to do. It's time for to show you, show everyone, just how pathetic you really are and just how powerful I really am.'

"And with that we see a punch whose shockwaves make a thousand foot crater and flatten everything in a mile, maybe ten miles! Circe flies though the air screaming as she crashes through building after building without even slowing down. She does stop when Diana flies at light speed to intercept here with a pile driver that sends her straight down to the ground. And that's where she pounds her into a hundred foot deep crater. Circe rallies and punches Diana into orbit and with that, the battle is joined.

"I plan on this being Wonder Woman's single greatest personal battle ever and, like she said, on using it to show just how strong she really is. Whole mountain ranges are destroyed, cities are left in ruins, earthquakes are felt on the other side of the world and tsunamis drown towns—evacuated of course. For a while it looks like the overpowered Circe might win by overwhelming her with monsters but Diana blasts them away with a bolt of lightning from her bracelets; they were made from Zeus's shield which was in turn made from the bones of Amalthea, the she-goat who suckled him. It all climaxes with Circe unconscious on one of the moons of Jupiter and waking up to see Diana floating above her and holding _another_ moon overhead. (By the way, Jovian moons are as big as planets.) Bludgeoning someone half to death with a celestial body… now there's a finisher!

"It ends with her returning to Earth amidst the ruined city and with her defeated foe in her arms. After seeing what she did, the people looking on her with fear that she might explode them like soap bubbles just by touching them. She doesn't fault them; it's only when she puts her bracelets back on that she dares to trust herself. The fight is over, Circe is taken away, and the world is safe once again.

"The Amazons are cleared of any and all charges leveled against them and prove as good as gold by helping to rebuild what was destroyed. The heroes and the civilian population recover and they pitch in. As for the gods, however, they have been humbled first for their being duped by Circe and secondly that it took a mortal to save them all, a mortal who surpassed them in courage and wisdom and compassion.

"Zeus summons Diana to Olympus and there before him and all the gods of Earth whose lives she saved so that she whom he would make a goddess can take her place. It is there we see her apotheosis, there we see Zeus and Odin and Ammon-Ra invite her to stay among them. To the surprise of everyone except the fans reading the story, Diana says no. She is honored by the gift they have given her and she will work tirelessly to use it for the greater good. But to do that, she must stay on Earth to help those in need and help make a better world.

"Thus Diana is the goddess she was always meant to be. Once a mortal, she walks amongst mortals, sister and friend to everyone. Her people the Amazons, have opened their doors to Man's World and have invited them to their island home. Thus it shall be forever."

**Days of Future Past**: If not forever, then at least for nearly twenty years. Starting with William Messner-Loebs, other writers picked up Perez' lead with varying degrees of success but they always tried to live up to the standard he created. Wonder Woman as a goddess had the same powers as before except she was now functionally immortal. She was too modest to seek worshippers but she gladly accepted them and did her best to give them guidelines by which to live their lives. So in addition to being an ambassador and a superhero, she was also a religious leader. To that end, she had the powers one would expect a deity to have, such as seeing into the hearts and souls of her worshippers, conferring blessings, general magic, and unlimited access to those things reserved for the gods. Vishnu, Amaterasu, she stood as their equal.

As for Diana's extended family they shined. One memorable story from the William Mennser-Loebs era had Queen Hippolyta strip her daughter of her title and order a new contest to determine the champion. Among the competitors were Donna Troy who was finally old enough to compete and Nubia who was determined to win the legitimacy the title would grant her crusade. Fury, who had been the Earth-Two Wonder Woman daughter, competed against her "mother;" both in fact as Mala, who had taken Diana's place in the Golden Age also competed. Atalanta and her Bana-Mighdal Amazons also tried out.

The reason Hippolyta called the fight, or so she claimed, was that Diana was increasingly out of touch with the common folk. As part of that, she demanded from her daughter(s) that she temporarily renounce her powers and thus ensure a "fair" fight. Diana acquiesced and the goddess competed as a mortal against mortals; having gotten so used to her unbelievable new strength, she was in for a surprise! While she consistently placed first in many contests, albeit barely, against her sisters, Nubia and Donna, she quickly came to respect the training and determination of every Amazon. That included her mother.

To everyone's shock, Hippolyta did compete and show why she and nobody else was the Queen of the Amazons. Despite dead heat, Hippolyta managed to beat Diana in the last contest and claim the title of Wonder Woman. During her time in Man's World playing "superhero," however, fans reading began wondering if she had gone mad with how out of character she was. It was ultimately revealed that Hippolyta had seen that "Wonder Woman" would be killed and that she had challenged her daughter to the contest because she knew that if she didn't win and take their place, that Diana or one of her other daughters would win… and go off to die.

On learning about this Diana, Donna, and Nubia all raced to save their mother from the monstrous White Magician; they failed. Diana, who had known her the longest took it the hardest and called herself a bad daughter for having so often disobeyed her. Hippolyta admonished her and with her last strength took the tiara from her brow, proclaiming her daughter now and forever, Wonder Woman. As the eldest daughter, Nubia became the new Queen of the Amazons. Donna stayed on as her sister's right hand and as the new Wonder Girl's mentor.

As for Diana's supporting cast, Etta Candy married boyfriend Howard Huckaby and eventually became a Lieutenant Colonel before leaving the Air Force to become Secretary of the Department of Metahuman Affairs. She remained a staunch ally ready to help her old friend against supervillainy in any way she could. This was doubly true as her stepsister, Vanessa Kapetalis, became Wonder Girl in John Byrne's run. Steve Trevor just… disappeared.

Greg Rucka's run was also well received. It was famous among other things, for his modernizing the Greek gods into cell phone using designer clothes wearing deities. This was due in part to Diana's influence but also out of a desire to defy stagnation. This was most clearly seen when Aphrodite became queen of Olympus after her champion bested Zeus' in mortal combat. Athena, however, was gladly welcomed as the queen's prime minister. Diana was likewise happy to serve as her grandmother's right hand.

Simply said, the status quo made by Perez lasted from 1986 to 2006. Wonder Woman, was at once the Goddess of Truth, champion and ambassador of Olympus to the pantheons of Earth. At the same time she walked amongst mortals as their hero, the ambassador of Themyscira and global peacemaker. She wore many hats but she wore them well. Even when Loebs and Bryne played down Diana the diplomat in favor of having her moonlight at Taco Whiz or play second fiddle to Jack Kirby's Demon, it was still there in the background.

In fact, with the sole exception of the Golden Age, it was the longest single uninterrupted period of stability in her history. After the constant new beginnings of the Bronze Age, twenty years of status quo—relatively speaking—were a breath of fresh air. Twenty years of the same city (New York), the same supporting cast (Donna Troy, Etta Candy, Nubia, Julia and Vanessa Kapetalis), the same "job" (Themysciran ambassador), however, led to taking things for granted. Rucka most certainly shook things up when he ended his run with _Amazons Attack_, widely regarded as one of the greatest Wonder Woman stories ever.

He had been building up to it all through his years writing both Diana's titles, _Wonder Woman_ and _Sensation Comics_ by a number of things. Paradise Island was removed from its pocket dimension and appeared just off the coast off the Carolinas, something that immediately put Washington DC on alert. Queen Nubia, despite Diana's pleas, refused to sign any peace treaties or even non-aggression pacts with the US, stating that her word was good enough. (The tragedy, of course was, that it was good enough but that no sane President could accept it.) Themyscira refused to trade with the United States for fear of cultural contamination and would not share its technology telling Congress to its face that Patriarch's World would use it for evil ends. The Amazons repeatedly refused to turn over any criminals that sought asylum. Most dramatic, of course, was when the flying islands of the Themyciran archipelago, came crashing down into the sea thus causing a tsunami that killed thousands and left thousands more homeless all along the American east coast. When it was revealed that the islands were brought down and thus the subsequent tsunami caused by the "gods" to whom Diana of the Amazons belonged, it was considered an act of war.

At all came to a head when Circe coerced Veronica Cale into filing a case against Themyscira in the American courts for custody of her daughter, Lyta, who was technically an American citizen. (Lyta was born in America when Circe masqueraded as a mortal named Donna Milton.) The American government, already on the brink of war and with its Navy blockading the islands, demanded that Themyscira return the child to "Donna Milton." The Amazons knowing Lyta's true lineage, refused, and attacked the social services agent, taking him prisoner.

This was the final straw and the U.S. launched a nuclear strike—the US wasn't sure if anything else could stop the Amazons—followed by hazmat suited Marines storming radioactive beachheads. They were then ambushed by the Amazons who had survived by going deep below the island and were promptly dealt the most humiliating defeat in their storied history. The sight of big manly Marines reduced to naked whimpering wrecks clutching US flags like baby blankets by a bunch of women said all that needed to be said of the oncoming fight.

In a strange subversion of the status quo that Perez began, the Amazons stormed Washington DC to avenge their dead island. Sadly, Nubia proved Ares' foster daughter as she led her people in bloody revenge against every man, woman, and child. Despite a broken heart, Mala, the Wonder Woman of World War II, rallied her Justice Society of America friends against her former sisters. Diana and the League followed close behind. One of the more famous scenes involved laser rifle toting Amazons coming out of nowhere to storm Air force One and telling the captured president, "You think we'd use bows and arrows?" When the Secret Service refused to surrender Air Force One, a dozen Invisible Jets materialized around it.

Not that America's armed forces were being lazy and showed why Diana was afraid; yes, the Amazons were stronger than any man but not stronger than all of them put together. For example, one Amazon charged at two US Army Rangers deflecting bullets all the while when she fell down dead. A third Ranger with a smoking rifle stepped from concealment and said the plan worked. On seeing that she was still crawling forward to kill them, despite a bullet in the brain, the three men just rolled their eyes and emptied their magazines from a safe distance into her skull until she was finally dead. High five.

The US had been caught off guard but it was fighting back and in the long run it was simply a fight that the Amazons could not win. Queen Nubia saw why when even after the President was their prisoner, _another_ President appeared out of nowhere! As Diana told her sister, never count out the VP. She tried to get her sister to listen to reason but it was of no use. When it was clear that her sister Amazons would not stop, she and Donna and Vanessa joined with Mala and the superheroes against them.

Whilst Diana and her friends did win, it was a hollow victory. When Aphrodite finally intervened at her granddaughter's behest to exile the criminals—they were no longer her Amazons—to a pocket dimension, they left cursing the gods and cursing Diana as a traitor. It was just the beginning as seen when she 'killed' Max Lord in order to stop a mind controlled Superman. Though it was revealed that she killed a robot (thus explaining why Lord was acting so out of character all of a sudden), Diana was traumatized and declared her mission to bring peace, to be a symbol of love ruined. No she hadn't killed, but she would have. How could she look people in the face and honestly tell them to "give peace a chance"?!

It was under that logic that when Gail Simone took over immediately after Rucka that Diana, who was separated from her sister Amazons anyways, abandoned her diplomacy for the now non-existent country of Themyscira. With nothing else to do, Diana went back to Washington and asked her old friend Etta Candy for a job. By then Candy had retired from the US Air Force to become Secretary of Metahuman Affairs and was indeed glad to have her old pal as one of her agents. If a glasses wearing secret identity let Clark establish a link with the mortals, it could do the same for her. Diana Prince was back and Wonder Woman resolved not to lose sight of humanity, not this time.

That hasn't changed in recent years though it undoubtedly will. Glimpses of the future consistently show her as not only the goddess queen of a new pantheon but as Gaea herself. What happens next? Only God knows the future.

**Author's Notes and Replies: Hi guys, glad to be back and glad to have this finished! I mean I like Diana but this is too much! After this I plan for some last words on Superman and Batman and then finally move to the Justice League. Yay! But for now let's dip into the mailbag, shall we?**

**Sir Thames: Glad to have you, as always. ;-)**

**"Anonymous": Strange... I knew of Vartox but I didn't make the connection between him and Hercules until now. As for the Gargareans, Atalanta's pre-_Crisis_ Amazons who lived in the Amazon rain forest just mentioned men in general; I haven't given thought to expanding that. As for hording technology... I think you'll have liked this chapter. :-D**

**Wolvvbm: Glad to see you like the nods to the Golden Age and while they have different views, Poison Ivy and the Debbie Domaine Cheetah could indeed find common ground. Nice touch! I hope you like the words I have here on Etta Candy though I must apologize for any lack of the Holiday College girls. :-( As for the rest of Earth-Two (Power Girl, Huntress), that's what the next chapter is going to be about! **

**And thanks for your kind words. :'-)**

**That's all and I bid you all a nice day.**

**PS: Hey Anonymous, that issue of Avengers looks interesting could you give me the number please?**


	17. Ch 12: Caped Crusaders-Part1

**Chapter Twelve: Caped Crusaders-Part One**

Wonder Woman ended in a high note but it was immediately brought crashing down when Schwartz began yelling at "Magoon" for not having done as good a job with Superman, not that O'Neil and Miller got off any easier. (When O'Neil wrote a guide to writing comics years later, he compared comic book editors to tyrants and it was Schwartz he was thinking of.) What about all the other Bat-villains and Super-villains? What about resolving the other aspects of Earth-Two? In stark contrast to the detailed outlines both teams were forced to start making things up as they went along. They kept making things up for years.

For example, where would Huntress fit? She could no longer be the daughter of the Earth-Two Batman and his Catwoman as the new DCU wasn't big enough for two Batmen. It was ultimately revealed that Helena Wayne was from a possible future, not another dimension, and was the daughter of that future Batman. With that her continuity was secured and she took her place as an occasional member of the post-_Crisis_ Bat-family, emphasis on occasional.

Earth-Two was thus split in half with the JSA's glory days taking place firmly in the new Earth's past, compatible modern adventures taking place in the new present, and adventures that could only take place in an alternate dimension taking place in that possible future. Examples of the latter included an aged Wonder Woman happily married to her Steve and with a child to boot. While the setup saved many DC characters and settings from being retconned out of existence, not many writers took advantage of it. As overstuffed as the new DCU was, one "timeline" was crazy enough

Similarly, Power Girl, in this new timeline, was recast as Supergirl clone. That proved much easier for writers to accept as she was supposed to be a clone anyways. She was made by Project Cadmus for unclear but clearly corrupt reasons and freed by Kal-El and Kara. Power Girl, however, decided not to stay with them; she had been thoroughly programmed during her gestation and knew full well who Kara Zor-El was. While she had no personal grudge against the two cousins, she wanted to carve out her own identity and be more than just someone's clone. Supergirl understood and she and her cousin offered "Karen Starr" a new home. That led directly to stories about her joining the JSA, though now there was the extra component of them training her as they had Kal. She still maintained a close friendship with her rescuers, though, and with Supergirl's death in the Crisis, Power Girl found herself in Metropolis more often and fighting alongside their cousin.

The two sisters-in-arms however were just the beginning as the two brothers-in-arms faced their challenges together and earned their name of the World's Finest. In fact, when John Byrne used his run on _Supreme_ to showcase how he would have handled Superman's friendship with Batman, many readers were shocked at the enmity between Supreme and Professor Night.

Batman was especially keen in that regard. Under O'Neil editorship, all later writers did was emphasize this or that aspect of him. As per the new editor's decisions the Dark Knight faced the end of the eighties and the whole of the nineties as a man who was as loved by the innocent as he was feared by the guilty. While at first glance he gave the impression of being the one hero most likely to go rogue or at best be a control freak drill sergeant, a closer look revealed more.

That's not to say he didn't face trouble as Jason Todd showed. Despite the idea of having him be some juvenile delinquent Batman felt sorry for, he remained a Dick Grayson clone for the first few years after _Crisis_. That admittedly did provide a sense of continuity with the past but older readers said enough was enough. If they wanted a Dick Grayson Robin, they'd just read back issues. O'Neil knew he had to do something and decided to gamble Todd's life by having Joker beat the boy half to death with a crowbar and then strap him to a bomb. Batman arrived one second too late to save him and the readers were then invited to vote on whether or not Robin would live or die. Even if it was by a mere fifteen votes, Robin lived.

Unfortunately, Jason Todd's injuries left him paralyzed from the waist down. After a few years of self pity, however, he triumphantly returned as Batman's mission controller. (He was promoted to Justice League mission control and chief-of-staff during Grant Morrison's run.) He ran the Batcave from a wheelchair and served as the Dark Knight's right hand, outranking even Dick Grayson in that regard. He was truly an oracle.

He also took a keen regard in Tim Drake's welfare. Drake was a child prodigy who independently deduced Batman's secret identity and who thereon asked to be trained as the next Robin. Todd knew this was different from his own experience; he accepted the chance to become a superhero but he never went looking for it. He knew full well that no matter how "fun" being a superhero might be, it's dangerous business. Drake might get lucky and survive to adulthood like Grayson did, but everyone's luck runs out sometime.

Jason Todd was instrumental in getting Wayne to not accept Drake into the service. He was also instrumental in getting him out of the superhero business entirely when the boy tried to freelance. Tim Drake's walking into his house's living room and seeing his father, Mr. Jack Drake, and Batman having coffee is still referenced of as one of the most awkward moments in Bat-history. Raising his own "sons" to be crime fighters was one thing, but somebody else's son? After speaking with the wheelchair bound Todd, Wayne knew he couldn't do it. If Drake were older maybe, but as it stood Batman would not employ child soldiers.

In recent years Tim Drake returned as the Red Hood, a deranged fanboy determined to prove the greatness of "the goddamn Batman" by setting up homicidal challenges for him to triumph over. While the Dark Knight usually did win, it was never without injury or even loss of life on the part of innocent people. Yes, it was Bat-Mite gone bad, _real_ bad.

As for Barbara Gordon, she stayed on as Batgirl for years before briefly graduating to Batwoman, despite Alan Moore's ultimately non-cannon _Batman: Killing Joke_. In an interesting concession to reality concerning women's lower average physical strength, however, years of pushing her non-superpowered body past the limits took their toll and forced Barbara Gordon to retire, much to her father's approval. Even the Black Canaries had limited superpowers, one for longevity and one for a Canary Cry, to take the edge off the nightly toll. Barbara Gordon, on the other hand, was forced to use a cane and lots of Tylenol. Still she remained active as part of mission control with Jason Todd and enjoyed teaching the new generation the ropes. She still, occasionally, donned her costume if the need was great enough. She would have to spend the next issue having to apply Icy-Hot, though.

Dick Grayson remained Wayne's firstborn and heir apparent. Able to function as both a back alley vigilante and a four color superhero who gave kids safety lectures equally well, Nightwing's adventures ran the gamut and never felt forced in any way no matter what the situation. More important than his myriad skills and abilities, however, Grayson's light heart and fun loving attitude also meant he had many more friends and allies than his mentor. That would be very necessary in the times to come.

Alfred Pennyworth remained Wayne's friend and confidant though he was changed to fit Miller's _Year One_ version. There, he had always been the Waynes' butler and became a father-figure in the wake of the Waynes' death. It was very different from the pre-_Crisis_ version who only even met Wayne until after the man had already become Batman. Alfred was also imbued with the Miller version's caustic black humor.

As part of O'Neil's "it's all true" plan the Kathy Kane Bat-Woman was still in continuity as the first woman whom Batman ever loved and the first to break his heart. While the ex-circus star was still dead, her niece Betty Kane remained a superhero despite ceding the Batgirl identity to Barbara Gordon and her protégés like Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain. She went on to become the heroine Flamebird, a pyrokinetic avatar for the titular Kryptonian phoenix. She serves alongside her husband Nightwing—no, the _other_ Nightwing.

Related to that, Grant Morrison went on to reveal in his _Batman Inc_. that the Batmen of Many Nations was still in effect. They were all still there but some like the Ranger, the Legionary, and the Gaucho decided to go their own ways and police their respective countries. Some of them were the only heroes their nations had. (And they had no wish to be seen as mere minions of "the goddamn Batman"…) Others, such as Britain's Knight and Squire or the Native American Chief Man-of-the-Bats and Little Raven kept in touch with Bruce Wayne and remained on hand.

Jim Gordon was changed slightly in the overhaul. In line with earlier stories, he'd been a rookie cop who'd befriended Thomas Wayne and was there for the elder Wayne's one off Silver Age adventure as the "first" Bat-Man. He was also there when the good doctor was killed and it was revealed that he did what he could to make sure that the boy stayed with Alfred like Thomas Wayne would have wanted. He was also there as the newly minted Gotham City Chief of Police when Batman came.

As Miller revealed in _Year One_ and later writers showed in flashback stories, Gotham City was a cesspool ruled by crime. The crime families, however, found in number two cop the one cop who couldn't be bribed. He was a rising star who stood up to the mafia dons and vowed to make the city safe for decent people. He initially ignored reports of a winged monster preying on crooks; he had enough to worry about without ghosts and goblins. As more people kept seeing… whatever it was, it became clear that it was real.

In a DCU that had forced the JSA into retirement decades ago and where superheroics were just barely being decriminalized thanks to Superman's efforts, Gordon didn't want a ticking time bomb of a costumed freak in his city. If it had superpowers it was a vampire and if it didn't… it's one thing if a meta goes public and submits himself to the local authorities because using superpowers to help others is "the right thing to do." But… but… what kind of a nut job with no superpowers decides one day to dress up like Count Dracula so he can beat up some mugger in an alley?!

_Year One_ showed the future police commissioner trying to capture Batman, especially after he started to humiliate the police by leaving his "piñatas" gift wrapped from the nearest lamppost. All they had to do was cut them down… Miller's story ended with Gordon meeting the Dark Knight face to face and being told that yes, he, Batman, was engaging in illegal vigilante activity. He hadn't asked for official police sanction and honestly never would. As much as he might respect the law, if he had to bend it to see justice done, then so be it. It closed with a tentative truce between them and them talking about someone called Joker threatening to poison the reservoir.

Jim Gordon became Police Commissioner in time for the Silver Age and from then on history remained unchanged and stayed in mostly the same role. It was also revealed that he was seen as weak by civilians and police officers outside of Gotham for relying on a bogeyman. Honestly, if not a single one of Gotham's "villains" had superpowers, then what possible need could Gordon have for a… whatever it is that Batman was?

That, of course, changed with No Man's Land when Gordon stayed behind in the abandoned Gotham City. For going through hell to save his city and bringing light to its darkest hour, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom when it was all over. He almost turned it down, accepting it only on behalf of his men. Despite feelings of betrayal due to Batman's seemingly abandoning the city in the beginning, the old pact remained strong as evidenced by Gordon's refusal to learn the Dark Knight's secret identity. He always suspected that he was the son of his old friend, Thomas Wayne, but the only thing that mattered was that he knew Batman was a friend. That's all Gordon had to know.

As for the Dark Knight's other best friend, Superman spent the rest of the 80s wearing a black shield to mourn those who died in the Crisis, Kara Zor-El among them. After failing to save Kandor from Lex Luthor thus truly rendering him the last son of Krypton, he suffered a nervous breakdown screaming that he couldn't save them. Pa Kent, Lisa Davis, Kara, Kandor, the billions who died in the Crisis, all his power and he couldn't save them! It was his black brother who held him tight.

As Maggin had dreamed of for years, Lois and Clark finally married and as he planned, the wedding brought hope to the beleaguered hero. It didn't make the pain go away and it wasn't supposed to. A wife is more than a man's lover or even the mother of his children; she's a buddy. Marriage, a _real_ marriage, means that if someone throws mud at you, you'll always have someone there to throw mud right back. Jimmy was the best man, Lana Lang was the maid of honor, and the entire Justice League—in their secret identities—attended. Diana jokingly told Lois that the best woman won but if she wasn't careful she'd steal Clark away.

Diana ultimately proved right.

Marriage seemed to catch as Clark Kent's boyhood friends Pete Ross and Lana Lang got married themselves. Pete had always known the secret ever since he'd seen a very young and inexperienced Superboy change in public but he'd never told anyone. It was with Clark's permission that he told Lana Superman's true identity. His son by his late first wife, Jon Ross, had learned the truth back in _Action Comics_ #457 and he thought it was only fair she know too. Lana, of course, had suspected it since her days in Smallville but it was nice to finally know for sure. Despite her career in 24-hour television news, the WGBS anchorwoman never told anyone the secret.

Speaking of Lana, her maternal uncle, Professor Phineas Potter he went on to become head of Star Labs. While still the absent minded professor he was in old Superboy comics, he proved a good friend and science adviser to Superman. Alas, when Bruce Timm and Paul Dini made their _Justice League_ cartoon, the professor was cast as a villain in charge of an anti-superhero conspiracy. Worse, this bled over into the comics.

On a brighter note Jimmy and Lucy Lane finally married each other. As a daredevil photographer with a penchant for getting into trouble in a world of gods and monsters, he justified the return of his fanclub in the comic book, _Daily Planet_. It answered just what would it be like for "normal" people to live in a comic book universe—and what it would be like for a reporter to work in one! Lucy had her moments too, of course.

The only other major couple was sports caster Vince Lombard and gossip columnist Cat Grant. The old character and the new brought out the worst in each other.

As for Perry White… by then he had had to retire due to age, lung cancer, and, worse, Alzheimer's. His wife's nagging about his cigars proving true was bad enough but to see his razor sharp mind degenerating into… It was a sad end for a man who won a Pulitzer Prize for the first interview with a newly debuted Superboy. In the wake of White's retirement, the _Daily Planet_'s owner Morgan Edge picked a succession of interim editors to run the great Metropolitan newspaper until he could pick someone to fill the post permanently. While none of them were quite on White's level, they were all good editors and honest men who did their level best to make the _Daily Planet_ great.

It wasn't until Edge chose a sleazy yes-man that White called Clark Kent to his side. White was on his deathbed by then but pulled himself out of his dementia to tell Kent to take the _Daily Planet_. White needed to know that there would be someone to take care of his baby when he was gone, the way he had been there when George Taylor passed it to him. The world's greatest newspaper had to be run by somebody who'd tell the truth not some yellow journalist who'd turn it into Morgan Edge's piece of _Pravda_. Clark made that promise and, after the funeral, promptly resigned his job as a WGBS anchorman over Edge's protests and, after a series of issues, became the new editor for the _Daily Planet_. It was a tremendous shakeup to not only see Kent back to working in print but as editor as Earth-Two and future glimpses had always said he would. In terms of Clark Kent's life, it was a shakeup second only to his finally marrying Lois Lane.

Maggin and his writers worked hard to keep Lois Kent from being the emasculating shrew she could have easily become instead making her the great woman behind the great man. She did love being a reporter, more so than Clark who initially became one just to watch for disasters but time and again she put Clark's needs and wants ahead of her own. This was especially poignant with how her husband was the editor. If she had to give up a story or compromise herself in order to help her husband save lives or if he had to miss their anniversary again, so be it. The writers even brought back the idea where she regularly volunteered at hospitals and local charities. (While she certainly would, this was shunted aside. Bates would often complain to Waid that the boss was laying it on too thick.)

Did Lois Lane's stories decline as a result of all this? Did some reporters at the _Planet_ snicker that Kent had "tamed" her? Perhaps but Lois knew better. That was not to say that Lois became Suzie Housewife. She remained a feisty, no-nonsense woman who suffered no fools. But if hers was anger it was more often than not righteous anger. It was driven partly by her desire to be the best reporter she could be and partly because she wanted to help other people and reporting was the only way she knew now. If a corrupt politician, a greedy businessman, or anybody else abused his power and harmed the innocent, he could count on Lois Lane to expose his crimes. Throughout the Silver Age, Superman had declined to marry Lois because of her lack of superpowers; now, he told her, it looked like he married a superhero after all.

(As the unofficial DC encyclopedia, however, Mark Waid brought up old issues of _Lois Lane_ to cite Imaginary Stories/Elseworlds to show that if it ever came to that she would, in fact, gladly sacrifice her career for her husband and any children that might result—even if she would be miserable.)

It was such a strong marriage that helped keep Clark sane with the direction the DCU took. Through the early nineties, Superman stood apart in the "Dark Age" of comics. The world he lived in grew bleaker, perhaps, but he didn't; if anything, chief writer Mark Waid made him more "super." Waid's first issue summed it all up having the Man of Steel see Jimmy turn into an alien, fend off an invasion of sentient mathematical equations, drive a demon warlord to the depths of hell, raise a hundred million for charity, time travel to the time of the dinosaurs, go to a run sun planet to liberate an entire world without use of his superpowers, and see that "Jimmy" was an alien youth who traded places with the photographer. The issue ended with a crying Man of Steel setting a crayon drawing of himself the young alien had made in the Fortress of Solitude. In the end what shocked him the most of his day was how utterly normal it had been. He'd had many days like it and expected many more before he finally hung up his cape to quit being Superman.

Under Waid, he became the paladin of the DCU, the perfect white knight. Or, as Grant Morrison jokingly said, an arrogant SOB hopped up on cocky macho bull… Well, you get the idea. Simply said, Kal-El was the man and he knew it. Yet therein was the paradox; Superman never lost his sense of decency but it left him in increasingly stark contrast to a DCU that seemed uninterested in decency. On realizing that and on hearing rumors that the folks at Marvel were planning to give Venom of all characters a title, Waid pitched an idea to Editor Elliot S! Maggin that became the single biggest Superman story ever: the "Death of Superman."

"Death of Superman" was the 1993 summer crossover though it retroactively began as early as 1991 with the introduction of Manchester Black in "Bloodlines." (Nowadays, he and Tommy "the Hitman" Monegan are the only things fans remember from that debacle.) Waid chose him as the secondary protagonist for the story because he saw in Black the epitome of everything he hated and saw as wrong about the 90s comic book anti-hero that was then sweeping the comic book world.

The countdown began with "What's so funny about Truth, Justice, and the American Way," co-written by Waid and up-and-coming writer Joe Kelley. There readers learned that if Superman refused to kill, it wasn't in order to "keep his hands clean" but because he actually did see all life as sacred. He saw each and every sentient being by sheer virtue of its sentience as having the right to live. Nobody, he said, has the right to kill, not even a Superman, especially not a Superman.

All this stood in utter contrast to Manchester Black and his Elite who summarily executed captured foes and overthrew what they deemed rogue governments. The DCU quickly developed an infatuation for the Elite seeing in them people who would finally do something. Finally someone would stop the villains once and for all! Finally, supers who would use their powers to solve everyone's problems! As for Superman, he and his code against killing were increasingly pushed aside by a public that wanted its "heroes" to be harder and more ruthless.

It all came to a head with Superman and the Elites dueling on live TV and Black murdering Superman's "friend" Lois Lane—whom Black had learned was the man's wife. With that, a revenge crazed Kal-El _seemingly_ turned his full power against his tormentors, literally tearing them apart into bloody pieces. (Black's plan to morally break the Man of Steel worked a little too well.) It all climaxed when a denuded Manchester Black cowering in a ball and turning the cameras on Superman whom he claimed was no better than he was. At which point the bloodied Man of Steel burst out laughing!

After mumbling something about not pulling a hoax like that in years, Superman said that, hypocrisy aside, Black had been right in condemning him for "murdering" the Elite. Kal-El said that to be a Superman is to be a symbol to lead people into the sun. He'd seen the real world a long time before Miss Lane died and the reason he refused to murder men like Black was not only because he saw life as having intrinsic worth but also because he knew that taking life would be too easy. Was he living in a dream? Of course he was and he wasn't going to stop until his dream of a better world came true.

It closed with an utterly broken Manchester Black revealing his own hoax. Lois Lane had never died and he'd been goading Superman into breaking his oath for nothing. Having passed the final test, Kal-El returned home to see Lois alive and well. It was perhaps Superman finest hour and it all came crashing down with Doomsday.

Superman even pointed out his battle scars when asked about them in a Cat Grant interview two issues later. It was there that he heard news reports of an enormous monster rampaging through the American Midwest. The Justice League quickly rallied behind him though even with their help he was hard pressed against Doomsday. That was the beast's name as he learned from his mission control Superman Robot in the Fortress. "Born" on ancient Krypton, it was a mindless killing machine with a hatred for all life coded into his very DNA.

Even with that knowledge and with both Power Girl and all the Superman Robots forming a last stand around Metropolis, the Man of Steel was hard pressed. The insanity dwarfed even Wonder Woman's battle with Circe, a fact only underscored by the lunacy of having Doomsday literally pound Superman to the other side of the Earth! He was forced to use every superpower he had ever had against the monster. He used light speed super powered martial arts moves, planet destroying punches, Mary Sue abilities not seen since the 1960s, everything and still it was not enough. The reason was simple: against an enemy that he could not defeat, Kal-El was asked for more than he could give.

In the end Superman did save the world though it was at the cost of his life. The event garnered national—by some accounts world wide—real-life media attention with reporters rightly noting "What's so Funny" (which itself had made the news) led directly into "Death." One interviewee's comment that, we learned how precious the light is only so we could lose it, was incorporated into the comic book.

As for the DCU, the entire universe seemed to stop in its tracks on funeral day. There came beings from across the stars such as the Oan Guardians and aliens from the hundreds of world's he had aided. Atlanteans and Amazons, gods and angels, wept. Representatives from other dimensions and timelines, time travelers whose eras Superman had saved all descended on Metropolis. Among the mourners were his fellow heroes who arrived to pay their last respects to their gallant leader. All of them came… except for Batman.

No matter how much Diana asked him he would not attend the funeral, instead claiming that he was busy. There was some truth to that; across the planet, gangland, Gotham included, celebrated the death of its most powerful foe. Crime rates skyrocketed because crooks knew that with super-doof dead nobody could stop them! As readers learned in _Detective Comics_, however, the real reason Batman didn't want to go, was that he didn't want anybody to see him cry.

Wonder Woman was the keynote speaker at the funeral and told everyone there to remember what he lived for and died for. She asked the people to let him live on by living out what he taught us, that it is our duty to all be heroes. Such words were necessary with how, as per editorial mandate, the entire DCU fell apart in the wake of Superman's death. In every title, scripts grew grittier. Coloring got darker. Higher crimes rates were just the start as hope itself seemed to die.

Batman's descent into madness as he faced Bane, a steroid fueled maniac, was only the most obvious example. The evil genius knew that with the loss of his best friend that the Dark Knight would be at his weakest mentally. He was right; when he released all criminals from Arkham Asylum, Batman insisted against all logic on facing them alone. When Bane faced him, he was a pathetic shell of a man so exhausted that he couldn't even defend himself. As the Man of Steel died, the Dark Knight was broken.

As a friend of both the Super- and Bat- families, Wonder Woman comforted the afflicted and watched over their respective protectorates. She repeatedly crossed over into their titles; in her own she desperately tried to fill the void left by the loss of her "brothers." She had to. As the only member of the Trinity left, Diana appeared across the DCU trying to stem the madness in an ever darkening world. Her desperate words of hope were not in vain…

More by sheer grit than anything else, Batman did return though in the end he had to wrestle his cowl from a pretender. During his convalescence, he had entrusted Gotham to Jean Paul Valley, aka Azrael, but he quickly turned into an egotistical madman determined to do what Wayne hadn't been "strong" enough to do. It was not enough that Valley donned a metallic bat-suit and beat Bane half to death, far from it. After he saw the imposter attacking the police and letting innocent people die, Wayne wryly mused that he had his own Manchester Black.

The still injured Wayne knew he could never defeat his doppelganger physically so he chose to outwit the enemy. He did so through a chase in the caverns around Wayne Manor that forced "Azbats," as the man was derisively called, to discard his power armor. When they finally emerged, the already unstable Valley found himself blinded by the light and on his back. All he could do was look at the fully uniformed Bruce Wayne to say, "You are Batman and I am nothing."

Still not fully healed, though, Wayne had Dick Grayson take up the cape and cowl until the time came. Everyone knew that if anything ever happened to Wayne, that Dick Grayson was the only one who could take up the mantle. His relationship with Wayne had been strained, especially with how he had chosen Valley over him but that had been because Wayne was afraid that what happened to him would happen to Dick.

Oh, Nightwing… As O'Neil and Maggin collaborated on their story, O'Neil made sure to have Wonder Woman tell Bruce in the wake of Clark's death that yes, Dick had gotten his name of Nighwing from Kandorian superhero Van-Zee. What he didn't know, she said, was that Van had gotten the Nightwing idea from Superman who, on one adventure, had been trapped in Kandor without his superpowers and mistaken for a criminal. Unable to show his face, he renamed himself Nightwing and drew inspiration from a certain detective… The Nightmobile, the Nightcave, a sidekick named for a bird. "Bruce, if Clark ever had to give up being Superman and be someone else, he'd want to be you."

Over in Metropolis, people saw the Reign of the Supermen, all of whom claimed, to one degree or another to be Superman returned. John Henry Irons swore to honor the man who saved his life by following in his footsteps as power-armor clad Steel. Eradicator thought he was Superman but it was revealed that he had been the man's chief Superman robot, Kelex, rebuilt by his fellows after nearly being scrapped by Doomsday. Superboy had been cloned from one of the many pieces of Kal-El's flesh and blood that Doomsday left splattered across the streets of Metropolis. Cyborg claimed to be Superman resurrected with DNA and Kryptonian biotech to prove it, although he claimed not to know it all happened and to be amnesiac about his earlier life.

Strangely there was a fifth "Superman" who followed the others; he appeared in all the comics, helping them and testing them to see if they were truly the Last Son of Krypton. Fans everywhere asked who the new viewpoint character was but weren't surprised when he (along with the other supermen) followed the true Kal-El, resurrected, to the final battle against Cyborg. By then, the imposter had shown his true colors, a genocidal monster determined to destroy the Earth.

Superman confessed that, oddly enough, Cyborg was the imitator most like himself. With the powers he had it was so easy to lose perspective and see the humans as just so many insects. What was it that Shakespeare said? "As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods. They kill us for their sport." If the humans are so small, why not kill them whenever the fancy strikes you? It wouldn't even be murder. After all, they're only human. He could never let himself go down that road because if did… There was a reason he had refused to listen to Manchester Black and part of it was that if he had, he knew that the Cyborg is what he would become.

The fifth imposter agreed completely and then dropped his disguise to show Manchester Black was exactly who he was! He said that he and the Elite had weakened Superman just prior to his fight against Doomsday and so blamed himself for Superman's death. He hoped that by continuing the never-ending battle might find absolution. He found it when he sacrificed his life to save the still recuperating Kal-El from the Cyborg and restore his power. After the villain was defeated, Manchester Black asked if the Cyborg was dead. When Superman said that no, he probably escaped, Black smiled. Superman hadn't killed his enemy; with that he knew he could die in peace. And so he did.

Every life is precious… that was the lesson hammered home. What kind of world, what kind of men would rise up if that lesson was forgotten was made equally clear. The joint storyline conceived by editors Maggin and O'Neil rocked the comic book world and redefined what it meant to be a true hero. It didn't get any easier, it never got any easier, but there was hope once again in the DCU. Was it a "Dark Age" of comics? Perhaps, but a holy Trinity of heroes chose to light candles instead of cursing the eternal dark.

They made that vow over lunch. On seeing that Superman was back, his two best hero friends invited him to play catch up at Bibbo's. When she saw him, Diana ran up to him and gave him such a hug that left them both blushing and nervously glad that he was invulnerable. Bruce was as inscrutable as always. He said that he knew he'd be back. Diana told Clark, however, that he took so hard that he just couldn't _bear_ to go to the funeral! The power couple laughed at Bruce's expense and Clark eagerly asked about the service went. It was only later when he mentioned it to Lois that he realized just how surreal it was to ask what happened at your own funeral.

**Author's Notes: Hi guys! It took awhile but a new chapter's up-at least half of it. The second half _is_ complete but it still needs proofreading and editing. Now**

**Sir Thames: Always glad to have you here and I thank you for your kind words. ;-)**

**Michael Weyer: You want Superman and Batman to have their flashforward? Here you go. :-) **

**Taintedtamt: Ditto. :-D Oh, and by the way, welcome to the story!**

**"Anonymous": Valkyries do make logical foes for the Amazons and Hepheasteus giving the Amazons weapons is the only logical explanation I can think of for pre-_Crisis_ Amazons having crazy sci-fi tech. :-p Thank you for your kind words.**

**As for villains and the taking of human life... superheroes offer a world that is inherently fantastical where the rules that pervade our world need not apply. That applies to science, to history, and yes even they way people might act. (Though as sadists and sociopaths of our world show, yes some people would use a wish to kill a neighbor's cow. If you don't believe me go to 's articles on dictators. search?q=site% ++crazy+dictator&oq=site% ++crazy+dictator&aqs=chrome.0.69i57j69i58.11513j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 )**

**I've written something on that here and I plan on going more in depth in the conclusion but the main point is that traditional superheroes are as much symbols as anything else. Superman is of course the most obvious but as the father of all superheroes, anyone who wears bright colored costumes carries the ideal with them. Metahuman X could join the police or the military and there might have the power to lawfully take human life but if he doesn't, then he doesn't have that power. If he's going to wear an attention grabbing costume and go around calling himself a hero, he has to act like it.**

**Well that's all and I hope to have the next half of this chapter up by the next week. Until then, see'ya soon!**


	18. Ch 12: Caped Crusaders-Part 2

**Chapter Twelve: Caped Crusaders-Part Two**

It was a strange thing. Batman was supposed to be a big loner but by the end of the Bronze Age he always had at least three sidekicks; Robin, Batgirl, and Nightwing; to back him. Superman, on the other hand, was supposed to be the guy who made friends easily and he only had Supergirl as an occasional guest star in the Silver Age—it only decreased as time went by. (The Bronze Age ended with her dead!) As the nineties came and went that all changed drastically. It was most clearly seen in the Reign of the Supermen.

Superboy had been created as a clone of the great hero by the same people who had created Power Girl and for the same reason: to serve as an anti-Superman deterrent. Whilst the Man of the Steel did understand the government's need to protect US citizens from rogue superhumans—even himself—he sternly disapproved of using a sentient being as a weapon. The Kid had the right to choose his own life.

In the wake of the battle against Cyborg, Superman saw that the Kid already had and proved a cocky, teen punk, womanizing hotshot. As Clark took responsibility for his "son" and let him crash at his apartment, he felt a new respect for Pa. The two worked well enough together against supervillains but it grew increasingly hard for the reporter to keep his secret identity because of it. Superman eventually decided that Superboy needed to learn to be human and learn some responsibility and so arranged for him to live with his mother in Smallville. The Kid was at first resentful but came around to the elder hero's point of view, especially when he give the Kid a proper name—Kon-El.

It was in Smallville that he befriended Ma, or as she asked him to call her, Grandma. He was still the adventure seeker and Smallville provided him with plenty of that—it was still the _X-Files_ locus of strangeness it was when Kal-El was a boy. (This was retroactively acknowledged with the "Wall of Weird," something borrowed from the _Smallville_ TV show.) Residual kryptonite that came through the baby Kal-El's escape rocket's warp gate still kept giving random people—both good and evil—superpowers. (Also borrowed from the show.)

At the same time, however, Kon-El saw that even if Smallville bordered the Twilight Zone the people of were just ordinary decent folks. No, he didn't have hundreds of channels to choose from, and, no, he couldn't walk two steps without someone asking if he'd found Jesus. But he found good people, better than most he had seen so far, and a town worth protecting. For its part, Smallville was glad to see (a) Superboy back and let him know it by bringing back the old "Home of Superboy" outside-of-town sign… though this time with a little twist.

More important than all of that, however, Kon-El found a family in Ma. When summer was over, he gladly enrolled in Smallville high for her sake under the name Conner Kent, her adopted grandson. He remained in Smallville for several years though he stayed active in the lager hero scene serving as a Teen Titan and a founding member of Young Justice. He eventually returned to Metropolis.

Another new ally was Steel, aka John Henry Irons. It was strange. In the wake of Superman's death he was the only of the pretenders who never tried to claim the Man of Steel's name but, because of his nobility, was the only one who Lois Lane seriously considered to be her husband returned. He went on to become third in line after Superman himself and Superwoman. Though his own series was cancelled after a long healthy run, placing his adventures in Metropolis ensured that he would remain the readers' eyes. He and Superman, who named him Steel, remain close friends and have a tremendous respect for each other.

As was revealed, Irons was a genius weapons designer who quit when he saw his work in weapons designs used to kill civilians. When Superman saved his life and challenged the despondent Irons him to live a life worth saving, however, he found himself reinvigorated. He embarked on his superheroic career to fill in for the Man of Steel after his apparent death and to stem the flow of the very weapons he had created into the streets. The rightness of his cause and his legitimacy were only confirmed when he met Superman and gave his name.

Irons went on to found Steelworks, an independent Metropolis workshop where he designed medical equipment and served as the superhero community's tech advisor. (He also inadvertently usurped Professor Potter's role in that, something used to justify Potter's turning into a villain.) He mostly operated out of Suicide Slum where he made great strides towards cleaning it up. Though Steel's adventures were lower key and have him working the "streets" he could and did protect the rest of Metropolis, often pinch hitting for Superman when he was out "saving the world." In that he'd stay protecting the city instead of hanging around the moon with his Justice League friends, some Metropolitans actually held Steel in higher regard that they did Kal-El.

Kelex's relationship with Superman is somewhat different, though. Writers phased out Kal-El's robot duplicates in the early 70s as being too gimmicky but Silver Age madman Mark Waid brought them back. He imagined the robots as being in a support role; they would serve as occasional backup, they'd investigate any leads, conduct forensic examinations, and engage in general upkeep for the Fortress of Solitude. However, they all looked up to Kelex as their leader as he was the only one who "lived" through the end of Krypton. His program was stored in the escape rocket and was downloaded into his current body. He now proudly served Kal-El as he had Jor-El.

As for how Kelex and his fellow robots were re-imagined, they were no longer mere Superman lookalikes. Kelex encouraged them to take names and develop personalities. He also encouraged them to embrace their robot-ness; they gained a far more mechanical appearance that then did in the Silver Age. There was of course the time Kelex though he was Superman but that was the exception.

Seeing that the master needed them, he rallied the robots against Doomsday. Those he assigned to crowd control and evacuation fared much better than those he led on a suicide run against the monster. Though he would have been happy to die knowing he had done his duty, the surviving robots, unable to function without a leader, rebuilt Kelex in Superman's image and called him Master. For a time he thought he was the Man of Steel back from the grave and did his best to serve as the visored "the Last Son of Krypton."

When the truth was revealed, he gladly turned over the cape and shield to the real Superman to resumed his old duties and old face. Kal-El saw him in a whole new light, however. Kelex had proven his usefulness and more importantly his gallantry. Although the noble robot shunned the limelight, preferring instead to work behind the scenes, Kelex proved himself a true hero and a good friend.

Flamebird has already been discussed. Betty Kane crushed on Robin as a girl and boasted she'd marry him when they grew up. Her wish came true when she married (a) Nightwing, Christopher Kent. Chris was General Zod's son but spurned his father's evil ways and chose to become a hero, even going so far as to take the son of Jor-El's human name. Although the General stripped the boy of his powers, Chris Kent's continued fight for truth and justice impressed the true Nightwing, a beast of Kryptonian legend that ultimately chose him for its avatar. Thus with his new power and a new partner, Chris found himself with both purpose and wife.

Commissioner Henderson remained head of the MPD and Superman's chief contact with the police though he played a relatively small role. Still, he made good friendships with the MPD mostly Jim "Guardian" Harper who, due to his life as both a police officer and a superhero was appointed as Field Commander of the Science Police, Henderson's anti-supervillian SWAT team. As revealed in other titles, the idea of the Science Police was copied by cities throughout the nation.

That was not to say that they alone kept Metropolis safe. Thorn, Gangbuster, and Black Lightning worked independently out of Suicide Slum fighting pimps and pushers. Pierce, not so much though as he had gone to the "big leagues" with Batman's Outsiders. Though mostly retired, Iron Munroe, one of the first metahumans, still helped out as did Livewire. She wore a modified version of the blue and white suit Superman wore during his electric powers phase. Mon-El traveled through time as needed to aid his brother. Power Girl has already been discussed. She proved much more than a clone and became a second sister to Superman in Supergirl's disappearance. It was underscored by modifying her cleavage window to an S-outline, an acknowledgement of her familial bonds. Those bonds didn't change even with what happened next.

Metropolis was quickly becoming much more than Superman's city and the clearest example of this was seen in the return of Supergirl. (The men at DC always did wonder why her backstory should have gotten so much work if she was just going to remain dead. They even timed her return issue to be hit the stands the day of Jenette Kahn's retirement.) It was revealed that she never actually died but woke up from a coma in another dimension thanks to unknown forces. She had been wandering the (restored) multiverse ever since, helping others along the way, and just trying to get home.

When she finally did come back, there were many happy returns as tears and hugs were shared, all around and the woman who saved the universe from the Anti-Monitor was given a hero's welcome. Due to how time had flowed differently for her, however, Kara Zor-El was now as old as her cousin Superman. She was Superwoman now, as tall as her cousin and nearly as muscular. Wonder Woman in particular nearly burst with pride on seeing that the little girl Kal had brought to Paradise Island had grown so strong.

Kal himself was no different though he knew that she was now much more than just his cousin. With how everyone had taken it for granted that "Linda Lee Kent" had died since her disappearance and how it had been more at Kal's urging so she could blend in with humanity than anything else, Kara moved into the Fortress. She still enjoyed visiting Ma Kent and prized the Kent name her foster mother had given her. The same was true for visiting Lois and Clark in civilian clothes. Otherwise, she was Superwoman all the time.

She embraced her new role well though as her cousin/brother's second-in-command and de facto leader of the Metropolis based Team Superman. The two siblings Superman and Superwoman, Power Girl, Superboy, Steel, Kelex and all the Superman robots playing backup… As the 90s progressed into the 2000s the Man of Steel found himself the general of an army of heroes… and with the finest aide-de-camp any general could want.

In her day job, Kara found herself the CEO of the Supermen of America NGO. Its day-to-day operations were as a non-profit organization that handled licensing of the shield, scheduled Superman's appearances, raised money for charity, and more. Kara Zor-El enjoyed her job and she actually did make a very good corporate executive but there were more than a few times when she attended board meetings in full costume in anticipation of being called in for a mission. Supermen of America's main purpose, of course, was coordinating the Team. She was still the sweetest, nicest friend you could ever have… but with how she had developed both the generalship of Captain America and the muscles of Thor, if she was nice it was because she could afford to be.

As revealed in the titular comic, _Supermen of America_ was simply the recognition that not even Superman can be everywhere at once. Grant Morrison applied the same logic to his _Batman Inc_. though he stated that he had the idea long before the previous title came out. In the years after _Knightfall_, the Dark Knight faced one challenge after another but he never faced them alone, however. Thus while the journey was hard and tiresome, there were many shoulders on which he knew he could share the burden.

There was, of course, his "niece" from a (possible) future, Helena. As her father was a very different Batman from himself, he never considered her a daughter but he still loved her as an uncle might. She saw in her the promise that one day his war might end and he might find peace and often benefited from her words of wisdom. She also proved a good (if very occasional due to her infrequent visits) big sister to the Carrie Kelley Robin

Fans were at first puzzled by the introduction of a character from _Dark Knight Returns_ as it was supposed to take place at the end of Batman's career. Miller, who consulted but didn't write her introduction into mainstream continuity, cleared it up by saying that he wrote _DKR_ separate from the larger DCU and so this Kelley should not be confused with the real Kelley. Kelley was much the same as she was in _DKR_, however, a young, brash, hero worshiping girl who just decided one day to put on a store bought costume. She started out small by standing up to local bullies, helping lost kids find their moms, and calling the police when it got too hot. In short, she was Neighborhood Watch in a costume. It escalated dramatically when she tagged along behind Batman and helped distract a thug who had gotten lucky against him. The Dark Knight took advantage and won the fight.

She took advantage of the situation to ask to become Robin something her idol flatly rejected. He took her to her parents so they could deal with the foolish girl properly. He was shocked to find a pair of apathetic stoners who'd forgotten that they even had a kid. He hadn't taken in Drake because he had a family; he wouldn't risk the life of someone's son but this… The sheer level of neglect meant that Carrie might as well be an orphan.

Todd was adamant that the girl have a shot at a normal life, if not with her parents then at least in some kind of foster home. Dick Grayson however told his mentor that Batman needs Robin. Grayson knew what the Dark Knight was like before he became his squire and what he became when left without a little voice to be his conscience. If Kelley could in fact follow Batman undetected, that showed she has potential. Besides, said the circus brat, normality is overrated.

Kelley eventually did become Robin and was a very good one. No, she wasn't as strong as the boys had been and was not as good a fighter but the fan girl made good more than made up for it in sheer guts. She got stronger and after learning from Todd, she also made up for it in brains too. Besides, the trickster served well as Batman's "little monkey wrench."

Kelley ultimately found herself playing big sister to Cassandra Kane, the daughter of an infamous hitman who really had no kind of normal life. She (and Barbara Gordon) helped Kane not only be a good Batgirl but also to be human.

With these three forming the nucleus, a bemused Todd found himself playing Charlie's Angels. He still disapproved of kid sidekicks and put his charges through the most grueling training he could think of to discourage them. Still, he knew that if they could survive his training, they could survive Gotham. Preferably with proper mentor supervision and they would not under any circumstances run half cocked into danger, no, never!

Then there was Damian… oh but the little snot gave Todd nightmares. Damian was introduced in the 2000s as Bruce Wayne's bastard and the child lived up to the epithet. Deranged, raised by cultists, the child soldier was everything Todd had gone on to distrust of sidekicks. Bruce should have shipped the brat right back to its mother…

Yes, Batman's greatest challenge was being a husband and a father. By the mid 1980s, Selina Kyle, Catwoman, had reformed and had gone on to become an adventurer. She had an on again, off again, love/hate relationship with Bruce and entered the 90s as a thief for hire. Aside from working as a mercenary, she would also plague Gotham's various crime families as well as corrupt politicians and businessmen as only the world's greatest thief could. As she explained to her boyfriend, was it really stealing if she only robbed bad guys? Batman chose to turn a blind eye, claiming that he had bigger enemies to fight. While that was true, everyone knew better.

As she began making friends, all that began to change. At first playing hero was just a game to get Bruce's attention but with the horrors that plagued Gotham over the next decade, it was her basic humanity that forced her to do the right thing. Catwoman was there for the Contagion and the Cataclysm; with how she had always worked outside the law, she was especially useful during the lawlessness of No Man's Land. Once, after stealing literal truckloads of food and supplies from warlord Two-Face (and personally giving it away to the people under Batman's protection), she even sarcastically asked Bruce if it had all been some trick to turn her into a goody two shoes.

When it was all over, Batman and Catwoman were taken for granted as a couple by both the superhero community and even the DCU's civilian population at large. The two slept together, fought villains together, went on dates in their civilian identities together. More and more Gothamites began asking, who was the mystery woman hanging on to Bruce Wayne?

Thus when Grant Morrison began his seven year run on Batman in the 2000s he was thus stuck in the same quandary faced by _Spider-Man_ writer Gerry Conway when he killed Gwen Stacy. The hero and his love are the perfect couple and there was no realistic way they could not get married by that point in their relationship. Yet at the same time, it would dilute the aspect of tragedy that was part of the hero's core being and, in Batman's case, "tame" him. Killing the love interest is the safest way out so of course the damn Scotsman went and married off Wayne.

The Dark Knight remained a workaholic but with how Selina had come to share his crusade, it worked out. As for the other half of the equation, she introduced herself to polite society under the alias Patience Phillips so that she could marry Bruce Wayne and go to live in her Prince's castle. Morrison even went so far as to have Selina being the hottest "MILF" seducing her husband at six months pregnant. It culminated with her birthing Helena Wayne, the future Huntress who still, incidentally visited the "present" from her alternate future. It was a jarring image for comic fans to see Huntress on a rescue mission only to find a maternal whip toting Catwoman tenderly breastfeeding her newborn daughter (and the elder Helena's younger self) atop the unconscious body of her would be kidnapper.

It was she who convinced her husband, over Todd's objections to take in Carrie Kelley and train her as Robin; after transfer of legal custody, she was glad to play mom. That was seconded when she took Damien Wayne under her wing without a second thought and embraced the boy as a stepson. (This was, of course, after beating her husband unconscious for sleeping with Damien's mother, Talia.) When Bruce "died" in the latest Crisis, it was Catwoman who persuaded Dick Grayson to take up the mantle of Batman.

For understandable reasons most writers let the Scotsman do the wife and children stories whilst they focused on Batman working alone. Some fans even asked if Morrison's stories were set in their own continuity with how little they were referenced in other stories. Part of solving this quandary DC launched the New 52 to showcase (among other things) a younger and unmarried Dark Knight. For his part Frank Miller said that this was the true version of the Masked Manhunter and "not Morrison's married pansy." Whilst Superman titles had become (and remain) the best selling in main stream continuity, Batman titles with their bachelor protagonist became the star of the New 52.

Of course, Morrison being Morrison, it ended with Catwoman dying in the latest Batfamily crossover saving a random civilian from the Joker. An enraged Batman would have murdered the captured clown then and there if Jim Gordon hadn't wrestled him to the ground. He roared that the clown had murdered his bride, that Gordon couldn't understand what had happened!

Wayne collapsed into utter despair, perhaps even worse that what he had faced when his parents died. First his son was killed by an adult clone sent by the boy's own mother, Talia, and now Selina on top of it!? It was Crime Alley all over again… Why did these things happen only to him? Why did he have to suffer more than anyone else!? He didn't want talk of her being a soldier in the cause or of her knowing the risks, she was his wife! His wife! Initial attempts to resurrect Damian—and Selina—with one of his grandfather's Lazarus Pits foiled, Wayne could do nothing but weep.

The elder Helena, Huntress, had been visiting the present from her alternate future when this all happened and had nearly gotten herself killed trying to save this version of her mother. She tried to keep history from repeating itself and she failed. She saw Uncle Bruce send little Helena away to be raised by Barbara Gordon and she could understand that. Her father was in no condition to do anything.

When he refused to even look at her for how she reminded him of Selina, however, big Helena knew the real reason he had sent little Helena away and knew she had to act. She knew Clark Kent was there for the funeral and contacted him. (It was the second funeral in as many months, comic book time.) She told him that Uncle Bruce had refused to listen to her and told the Man of Steel to talk to him instead. She told him that she had seen what happened to her version of Batman; the strongest man she ever knew just gave up and plunged into a cycle of self destructive behavior that ended with his death.

Kent agreed to help but on finding a broken Batman holed up in his cave, he knew he would have to use a different set of tactics. He insulted him and smacked him around. He even called Bruce a weakling for his reasons for becoming Batman. "You have it easy. You literally couldn't have done anything when your family died. I had all my power and I still couldn't save my father, but you don't see me whining the rest of my life about it!" Superman even went so far as to trick Bruce into believing little Helena had been kidnapped to force him to don the cape and cowl. While Bruce never forgave his "friend" for that, it did the trick.

Big Helena, along with Dick and the rest of the network, had been patrolling Gotham in Batman's absence. It was on a routine stakeout when a shadow covered her. Trembling Huntress turned around and saw the Dark Knight standing before her. She ran crying to him and collapsed in his arms. Yes, she was a strong, proud woman but that night she cried like a little girl, not caring in the least who saw her. Though he had suffered and wept as well, Batman would live. He had to. His daughter at least was one Wayne who would not be an orphan. On that rooftop, he smiled and told the heroine he knew his baby girl would one day become if she'd mind some help busting those crooks down there. Huntress didn't mind in the least.

As Helena swung down with her Uncle Bruce, her head told her they were alone. But her heart knew better.

Paul Levitz co-wrote this story with Morrison. He'd been asked by the Scotsman himself on the logic that who'd be better to tell the story than the man who came up with it the first time. It won an Eisner Award and was widely lauded.

Then, of course, there was the other marriage, one that was better received and had a happier ending. It all started when Lois died the way everyone said she would; she got in over her head whilst covering a story and Superman just had to be on a mission on the other side of the universe. By then, she and Clark had been married for nearly twenty years, ten years in comic book time, and when he returned it nearly destroyed him. He had steeled himself for it, knowing that he would outlive her no matter what but that didn't make it hurt any less.

For a time he was tempted to use his powers to resurrect the one he loved as Bruce had tried to before he stopped him, hypocrisy be damned. After he saw his parent's graves, however (his mother had died by that time as well), he knew he couldn't. Using his power for such personal goals, even laudable ones, would be wrong. He remembered something Lois had told him about just this eventuality. He wasn't God; it wasn't up to him to decide who lived or died or would come back to life. He was just a man and if he living only to see those he loved die was his cross to bear, so be it.

For awhile widower Superman, bore his grief in silence but Pete Ross told his friend that it wasn't good to be alone. Himself a widower, he said that marrying Lana made his life worth living again. He told Clark that he had to find love again. It was no mean feat. True, he had had many romances over the years but by then Lori Lemaris and Lana Lang had both married, super heroine Luma Lynai was still unable to survive Earth's atmosphere, and Kryptonian Lyla Lerrol was still dead.

Things were hard for our hero, both of him. Clark dated the human women that Pete and Lana picked for him; some of them could have been keepers but the fact that he had to run off every other moment meant that none of them went past the third date. (That, of course, was why it took him years to marry Lois.) On her end, Kara introduced her cousin to various superheroines and female metahumans. The dates failed for the obvious reason; they didn't love him, they lusted for him and Superman had no desire to be some woman's beefsteak.

It was on Monitor Duty with Diana that Kal talked to her about his predicament. He still missed Lois but she had made him promise that if she were to die first that he wouldn't mourn her forever. He wanted to feel love again and Diana admitted that so did she, she hadn't seriously dated since breaking up with Steve. That was partly because she was so busy… and partly because she didn't want to be some lovesick puppy, not ever again.

At first it was purely platonic but as Kara saw them together, she knew it could be more. She asked him about Diana and Kal admitted that he'd always known that they would make a good pair. She had a good heart and, as a superhero, understood his. She was also his physical equal in every way. Clark knew that if his enemies ever found out that there was a Mrs. Superman, they wouldn't hesitate for a second to get revenge on him by killing her. Her not having superpowers was, in part, why he put off marrying Lois for years.

As for the way things were now… it was too obvious. They had always liked each other but such a romance would be too contrived. With that Kara smacked him upside the head and berated him for rejecting a woman _because_ he knew she would be his soulmate. Superman pondered that and reasoned, why the heck not. The next thing fans saw was Agent Diana Prince opening the door of her Washington DC apartment and seeing Clark Kent holding a bouquet of flowers.

Their respective titles and especially the new _Superman/Wonder Woman_ soon saw the two heroes making a fuss by going to the fanciest restaurants in their heroic identities and enjoying local burger joints in their spectacled ones. The two initially just courted to see if they could actually make each other happy. After a few tentative dates, it became very clear to them that yes they could make each other very happy.

In 2010 Superman and Wonder Woman ultimately did marry and it was an event celebrated across the DCU. The ceremony was held in the skies above the Vatican with the Spectre presiding; he claimed to be on orders from "the Master." There was Kal-El in a caped tuxedo with an S-shield sash whilst Diana wore a white silk wedding dress accentuated by her tiara, bracelets, and a golden WW on her mighty breasts. There were the Atlanteans, time travelers, and the aliens from a thousand worlds those who came to Superman's funeral and more though now for a far more joyous occasion. Grateful for aid in the War of the Gods, the respective pantheons of Earth came to celebrate their champion's wedding. Queen Atalanta's man loving non-Theymsciran Amazons also attended. Batman was the Best Man, Donna Troy was the Maid of Honor, and the virtually the entire heroic community was there. The world saw them literally dancing on air at their reception. It was all so… perfect! The princess and her hero got married and lived happily ever after… just like a fairy tale!

Well, as happily ever after as could realistically be expected. Diana confided in her husband a nightmare she once had, before the Crisis; they'd married but their mutual heroism kept them apart. It was mostly workaholic Kal-El's fault and the real Kal knew it. Maybe he'd no longer "kill" Clark Kent in order to be Superman all the time like he once had in the old days but he knew that while saving lives and helping others would have to come first every time, his wife and any future children would have to be first in everything else.

That was no mean feat for either hero as by that time Clark was editor of the _Daily Planet_ and Diana was a top agent for the Department of Extranormal Affairs. (There was also her daily commute from her new home in Metropolis to Washington DC!) They'd have lived up to their hyperbolic names even without being superheroes on top of it all. Still, thanks to each other more than anything else, they managed. They worked well together and not just in the most obvious role as crime fighters.

By that time, writers had begun to emphasize Clark Kent over Kal-El and to that end, he was overwhelmed at being worshiped as a god in the wake of his post-Doomsday "resurrection." He had already met **the** God in one of Maggin's novels and had accepted his destiny as the world's greatest hero so it wasn't too jarring. Still, Diana, an actual goddess by that point, was a huge help and co-founded Miracle Monday, a holiday first mentioned in the novels as a day whereon the future peoples of Earth honored the Man of Steel. As first instituted, it was meant to commemorate heroes and for people to engage in acts of charity. The super-cultists, however, took it to the extreme doing good deeds in Superman's name whilst wearing S-shield robes. They often collaborated with his wife's worshipers.

Though he indeed hoped to inspire men to acts of righteousness, Superman found it all rather embarrassing.

The marriage proved good for Diana as well, though in her case it was in the opposite direction. Wonder Woman had grown up on Paradise Island as Princess of the Amazons and had since gone on to become a goddess. During her career as an ambassador she had had no name other than Wonder Woman and Diana Prince was completely artificial. This stood in stark contrast to Bruce and Clark who had grown up as ordinary people before becoming superheroes. Heck, she just made the original Diana Prince up to stalk Steve Trevor and had gone through three other Prince identities since!

More than any other superhero, a secret identity was something that truly mattered to Superman. Not only did it give the chance to relax but it also kept him human and being human was something that Wonder Woman had forgotten. Clark loved Diana Prince every bit as much as he loved Princess Diana and in some cases even more. He helped her to love her to. Honestly, though, what wasn't there to love? The DEO agent was a smart, witty woman with a golden personality and that always had your back and more than once had to tell overeager men that she was married. She was still a no-nonsense, all business glasses wearing plain-Jane but now she wore much more stylish glasses.

In time, she was surprised to find herself looking at Diana Prince as more than a way to marry Clark without revealing his secret identity or as a chance to find and use classified information. She even started looking forward to going to work and getting the latest case form Director Etta Candy. The friends and experiences she could only have as Mrs. Kent were truly worthwhile. In a strange way, all this made her an even better, more proactive Wonder Woman as she learned what it meant to be human.

And she started wearing a cape to match her husband and their best friend. It looks good in group shots don'cha know.

**Authors Notes: Note to everyone, never trust me when I say it will take just a few days... :-(**

**However, the tales of the Trinity are complete! Its worth saying that Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman were supposed to have had just one chapter each but such was not the case! Its eleven chapters split into thirteen parts. I was also thinking of adding a third part, one fitting Mark Waid's _Superman: Birthright_ into this but I said to myself enough is in turn, however, leads to something else.**

**In finishing the tales of the Trinity, I-we-have reached a milestone but that means where do we go next. I do admit that I have two chapters for the Justice League and the larger DCU. **Looking back, however, I seriously doubt that it would stay just one chapter for the entire Justice League and one for the entire DCU. In the intro I said one part for Superman, one for Batman, etc., and I was serious. When I started my story over two years ago it was complete and all I thought I would do was just edit and** upload. I realize that will not likely be the case so that means there is pretty much a blank slate ahead.**

**Sooo any takers!? What do you want to see next? Flash? Green Lantern? Aquaman? Hawkman? Captain Marvel? Perhaps the Justice League-its formation and relation to the JSA? Individual heroes first and then the JLA or JLA and then heroes? In the time I've spent on the Trinity, I've come up with ideas for all of them.**

**On a slight tangent, I'm also considering re-releasing my Godzilla fanfic _Monster Wars_ complete with chapter by chapter commentary/reader feedback and previously unreleased chapters. If you're interested, click my profile. Its my "baby" and it made it to _TV Tropes_ due to its original posting on .**** I think its due for a special edition. This time hopefully, it won't just be a recommendation but a trope list...**

**The reason I'm saying this is that I at first thought of waiting until I'm done with this story but I now realize that I have no idea how long this thing is going to take Since I'm primarily a fan of the Trinity, I'm hopefully half way to finishing but that's no guarantee. If I re-release _Monster Wars_ right now, I will take some time off from this story. However, _MW_ actually is complete and I plan on re-releasing it as is so, after writing a new intro for it, things would be back to normal.**

**Its also worth saying that there will be a slight delay no matter what as I'll be uploading this story (and perhaps _MW_) to my Deviant art account**

**So guys, aside from commenting on this chapter, please answer these two questions.**

**1) What team or hero should go next here?**

**2) Should Monster Wars be re-released right now or should it wait until this is finished?**

**I appreciate any words you might have but for now let's check the mailbag!**

**Dryad Princess: ...Well... you can't win'em all. :-( The "other" Nightwing is discussed here. On the bright side, welcome to the story m'lady!**

**Sir Thames: Same words, same response. Thank you sir!**

**Wolvmbm: I have heard of Marvel's MC2 but I have read it. Guess I just got lucky! As for Clark Kent becoming editor, Elliot S! Maggin made Perry White extremely "forgetful" in the last Superman stories he wrote for DC. It was implied but never confirmed to be Alzheimers.**** We all know that if White ever had to give up being editor that Kent (or maybe Lois) would be the next in line. I admit that it might put a dent on his schedule-and that I never thought about that! (-_-;) Well as Superman said when he got a job as a TV news anchorman back in 1970s it would make his heroics a little harder but "I'll find a way. I always do."**

**Oh, and thanks for your kind words good sir. :-)**

**"Anon": At this point its more of a philosophical question. If I, as a private citizen, were to arm myself and go capture or kill suspected criminals I myself would be quickly arrested. If I were to become a police officer and do the same, I would be rewarded. The same analogy can be had for soldiers in how they are **routinely hailed as heroes when their purpose as soldiers is **killing perfect strangers for no reason other than that somebody told them to, even if said stranger never did anything to them. That would be murder if anyone else did it**.** **

**In his 1919 essay, _Politics as a Vocation_, sociologist Max Weber discusses "the monopoly of force." He states that lawful authorities (_The Authority_'s writer probably heard this) have the power of lethal force as it is their responsibility to protect those whose obedience they command. The idea of "I obey you, you protect me" is at the root of civilization and forms a major plot point of a _My Little Pony_ fanfic I'm writing. There, Father Crucifix Rosary (a priest pony and my OC) goes to Hell and plays poker with Tirek (pony Satan and cannon character). Hoping to corrupt him, Tirek discusses the morality of killing and Crucifix brings up these very points.**

_**If a soldier or a police officer sees civilians being killed left and right and killing is the only way to stop the aggressor, what does the pony do? He needs to go to church if he doesn't feel at least some sympathy for the person in the sights of his gun yoke but, however horrible the execution of his duty might be, killing the other pony is not a sin in that context. If you would rather let innocent lives, lives that you have sworn to protect, be lost just so that you can keep your hooves "clean", that is the real sin.**_

**Superheroes are different with how they are just private citizens and thus lack the moral authority to kill in any but the most dire of circumstances. _Captain America_ Vol 4 #3, for example, kills a terrorist to save some hostages. Even ignoring that he did initially try to use nonlethal methods, he was a soldier and he is entrusted with power and authority by the US government so it doesn't break the character. On the other hand, Superman's killing of General Zod in the most recent movie has rightly led to some criticism. Yes, it was to save innocent people whom Zod was trying to kill by means of his heat vision and even there it could be argued that Superman didn't deliberately kill the man. Perhaps as he was pulling Zod's head back he didn't know he would snap his neck. Still, the fact is Superman is just a private citizen so this is the one and only time such action could be justified. Anything else and you have to ask, if someone with that much power is willing to kill us whenever he deems it "necessary" who could stop him from doing whatever else he feels is "necessary"?**

**I have yet to read more than one or two issues of _Authority_ but if they are anything like Manchester Black's (cannon) Elites who they inspired their actions speak for themselves. If the Authority is a government sanctioned special ops team in the vein of Ultimate Marvel's Ultimates/Avengers that's one thing. Protecting its people from outside threat is the most basic responsibility any government can have and if metahuman X is in the service of that government then that means that he is the means through which said government will exercise that responsibility. ******Its may be a dirty job but the Authority are the poor slobs who have to do it. ****

**If, on the other hand, they're taking such proactive steps on their own authority, they ****have ****effectively staged a coup against everyone in which case they are an unlawful authority. They are either villains who've taken over the world for its own good (with the Authority deciding what is "good") ****or the civilians of that universe are dirt dumb clods who deserve to be bossed around by the dictators for whom they rolled over and gave rule over their world.**

**An example of what I'm saying can be found in ** Alex Ross and Mark Waid's _Kingdom Come_. There, t******wo intertwined themes are the fact that "human initiative began to erode the day people asked a new breed to face the future for them" and that that new breed is the one who took it upon itself to decide what was right and wrong. When it was all over, Superman was told that "we saw you as gods..." to which he replied, "as we saw ourselves and we were both wrong."**

**"Anon," I have to thank you. Other people might call you a troll for hiding behind anonymous comments but not me. You're the lemons I've been using to make lemonade because if not for answering your comments, I'd have never given these little lectures! Keep it up. ;-)**

**PS. Troll or not, I'll be moderating guest comments from now on****. Remember what I said "anon," one more bit of nonsensical shenanigans? I don't know who you are or if you're even the same guy. For all I know, you're a group of guys that takes turns.) I do know, however, that**** your writing is such that I don't know if you're that bad a writer or a troll****. (Nameless as you are I am inclined to the latter.) ****I teach a writing class in an after school program and something I tell my students is that it doesn't matter how good your ideas are if you don't know how to express them. **

**If you wish to improve your writing, I will say this.**

**Be Concise: Keep short and to to the point. Look at the other and you'll see what I mean.**

**Stay on topic: "Reviews" are meant to review the chapter so when using it, write only about ****what's in the chapter. You, on the other hand, have been habitually using the comments section to air your own views. ****If you want to have a good discussion, you can always register and write a private message. Other readers have written me such messages and we've had fine conversations.**

**Grammar: Its a good idea to check your spelling and punctuation lest people think you're not smart enough to write properly.**

**Organization: You have good ideas but they are so randomly strewn through your reviews that I'm not sure what to make of it.**

**Have guts: Privacy is one thing. I too am "anonymous." Not having the courage to show your face, even of that "face" is a registered screen name, is quite another. If you expect someone to take you and the points you bring in seriously, man-up.**

**Don't worry "anon" I will remember you. You did bring up interesting points and ****I do plan on answering all the questions you've asked in **the conclusion. Having enabled moderation, if you keep posting and show me that you are not a troll, those posts will be put up. If not they will never see the light of day. U********ntil then my dear lemon tree********, _vaya con Dios_.****


	19. Ch 13 Emerald Gladiators

**Bill Finger, Martin Nodell, John Broome Gil Kane, Dennis O'Neil, Emerald Gladiators all…**

**Chapter Thirteen: Emerald Gladiators**

**Place: Offices of DC Comics, New York City**

**Year: 1986**

**[Special thanks to Sunflare2k5 for contributing story ideas concerning Kilowog and Soranik Natu]**

The staff at the meeting had finally finished their work of the Big Three and it was good work whose effects would last for years to come. However, while that was finished, the work on the rest of the DCU had only just begun.

The Justice League was seen, and rightly so by the average fan as DC's greatest team but when looked at from the point of view of the average sentient being of the DC universe, it was far different. In their eyes, the universe's greatest heroes were not those of the League but those of the Green Lantern Corps. How else could it be when the billion year old brotherhood stood as a force for justice and peace across the cosmos? Superman, in fact, was not just the only Earth hero for whom the myriad races of the larger DCU had any respect; he was the only one they knew anything about. There was even a rumor that if he was the greatest hero of them all, it was only because the Guardians had created him. (Partly true, as revealed by Maggin's comics.)

For their part, the Guardians of the Universe were seen, in fact, as just that. They were recognized as the highest moral authority in the cosmos and would have long since been worshipped as gods if they had allowed it. It was they who had safeguarded physical reality ever since their mad brother Krona had left it so grievously wounded, thus sowing the seeds for the Crisis. And it was the Guardians' relative impotence in the Crisis that hit them that much more harshly, or so writer Gerard Jones said the next day of the conference.

"They have to take their place as the DCU's front line not just in their titles but in every title," said Jones. "If they guard the universe, I say we let them act like it. That means that the Green Lantern mythos is due for a major shakeup but I know what it's going to be. My partner, Giffen, called in sick but don't worry I got his notes and I can talk for both of us.

"Let's start with Alan Scott. We've already talked about how the Guardians captured excess magic into a stone and cast off whereon it ultimately fell to Earth-Two. Now we just say that instead of falling to another dimension, it fell to the one Earth where our guy found it. But beyond that I say that if it's going to be one universe we take advantage of it!" He looked across the conference table and Elliot S. Maggin and asked, "In this new continuity, you've having Superboy be trained by the JSA right?"

Maggin looked at him nodded. "Yeah. It's so can keep part of his first hero ever shtick."

The new GL writer looked around at everyone else and thundered, "He was trained by the JSA… well that includes their Green Lantern, Alan Scott! So imagine this… an old and retired Scott is at home when someone knocks on his door. He opens and is surprised to see Superboy and a red skinned alien. What's more surprising is that the alien bears a lantern symbol on his chest and ring on his finger… His young protégé walks in and asks the alien, Abin, Sur to follow.

"From the two Alan Scott learns that Superboy had been on a routine space mission—Scott smiles at that; his boy is already flying into space—when he encountered a group of alien bandits. That's hardly unusual in the Kryptonian's life, nor are interstellar adventures wherein he has to save entire worlds. What was unusual was his plan for a Green Lantern coming to everyone's rescue working. The Teen of Steel was glad to see the stories he'd heard from various alien were true. For his part, Abin Sur was shocked at Superboy's existence as Kryptonians were supposed to be all dead. He was also surprised by the boy's claim that there had been a Green Lantern active on Earth for decades. After exchanging pleasantries, Sur agreed to follow his new acquaintance home and solve the mystery.

"Back in the present, the two Green Lanterns try to unravel the secret. After analyzing Scott's ring with his own, Sur sees that it is indeed a legitimate power ring as is his battery but he says that there is only one Lantern for Earth's sector and he is that one. There is no record whatsoever of any human ever having been inducted into the Corps…

"In order to solve the problem, the two new friends journey to Oa where the Guardians say that billions of years ago, they made an attempt to collect excess magical energy. Magic is too chaotic a force to be let loose. It was concentrated into an orb and was cast adrift in the void. It of course ultimately made it to Earth where, in ancient China, it was formed into a lantern that passed through a succession of owners before falling into Alan Scott's hands. It contained recordings of its time with the Guardians and gave the Earthman instructions for building a ring. The rest is history.

"Scott's initially worried that that means he's going to get drafted into the Corps but the Guardians decide to let him keep the ring. He never asked for it but on getting it he upheld the ideals of the Corps even without knowing it. In recognition of his good works and of his bravery, the Guardians make Scott an honorary Corpsman.

"Abin Sur shows Scott around and he meets Sur's best friend, Sinestro. The Earthman goes home and continues his work—albeit quietly until Super_man_ inaugurates the new age of heroes. That's when Hal Jordan comes along and becomes Earth's first official GL. Remembering his experiences with Clark, he gives Hal Jordan a helping hand now and then.

"As for Hal Jordan, he's still a test pilot for Ferris Aircraft. The only change there was that reason he has no fear was that he had nothing left to be afraid if when he saw his test pilot father die in a plane crash as a child. He grew up, joined the Air Force, and eventually became a test pilot for Ferris where he befriended Tom Kalmaku. He also has a… difficult relationship with Carol Ferris. They like each other but he's just too irresponsible for any kind of serious relationship

"By the way, I talked to Alan Moore and he said that he had an idea for Abin Sur's crash, that he heard a prophecy from a demon that his ring would fail him at a critical hour thus forcing him to take a spaceship as a precaution. That, of course, backfired which likely what the monster had in mind.

"Regardless, the dying Sur bequeaths Jordan the ring. Strangely, when that happens we see him with his chest symbol blank, just a white circle. Jordan being Jordan ignores it in favor of a joy ride. The only person he trusts with this is Tom who says he's a superhero; when Hal says he isn't and that this Lantern stuff belongs to a some kind of space cops, Tom says, 'weird costume, superpowers, sounds like cape and tights to me.'

"Hal realizes that's true and begins to play hero, catching banks robbers and rescuing cats from trees. All America sees him on the news and they just love his dashing devil-may-care movie star heroics. But the better things go for Green Lantern the worse they get for Hal Jordan thanks to his already exhausting job as a test pilot. Living a double life takes its toll and his performance begins to slip. He even crashes a plane; that's normally something bad but this time it's _real_ bad.

"Hal is thus actually relieved when Sinestro shows up to draft him. He tells the Earthman that the Guardians had received a message from the ring when Sur died and that Alan Scott had reported Hal to them after seeing him on TV. Power rings are potentially the most powerful weapons in the universe; they just can't let yahoos run around with the blasted things! He must report to Oa for training or forfeit the ring. Jordan is uncertain. Magic rings and alien planets? He asks for time to think about it and he gets it.

"His thinking is done for him when he goes to talk to Carol and she tells him he's fired. She tells her stunned employee that his performance as a pilot has fallen drastically in recent months. He can barely stay awake and he's late all the time. And of course there's his crashing the new plane. The whole company had been riding on getting a contract with the Pentagon but his screw up cost Ferris that contract this leaving it on the verge of bankruptcy! She demands that he explain himself but he can't tell her that he's moonlighting as a superhero. Unable to lie, though, (the ring chooses somewhat completely honest in addition to being without fear) he lamely says he's been doing some volunteer work.

"Carol Ferris doesn't accept it. Maybe she does love him but she's through being his codependent enabler. He's an idiot whom she has to bail out of jail and whose rent she has to pay because he keeps blowing his paychecks. As his boss she put up with his antics because, despite everything else, he was the best pilot around but now he doesn't even have that. With that Jordan goes with Sinestro to Oa. There's nothing for him on Earth now. He then gets to Oa just in time to hear the Guardians introductory speech to the latest class of recruits.

"The rest of _Emerald Dawn_ will show Hal's training, his return to Earth, and Sinestro's fall from grace. As to why it was because he was too good. He was supposed to have been the greatest Lantern of all before he fell right? He supposedly had the most peaceful space sector in the universe right? At the same time he made a utopia he made his world one of slavery.

"That means that in order to create a world without war, famine, crime, poverty or disease he abolished freedom. It makes perfect sense guys! If he with one ring can make a perfect world in less than a decade why haven't the Guardians done the same with the universe if they've had thousands of Lanterns and billions of years? He's like Maggin's Zod. He does care about Korugar in the abstract and he did raise living standards. But when it comes to actual people, to individuals, he doesn't care about them at all. Arrest without trail, no freedom of speech, phones tapped. He'll even execute innocent people if it's for 'the greater good.' You know what the worst part is however? It's that he's actually sincere."

Jeannete Kahn nodded. "So it's lawful evil versus chaotic good. Sinestro sounds to ready to hit new heights… or new depths as it might be! But remember Gerard we're not just here to reimagine the past…"

"But to use it to make a new future, I know boss. The future will see two things. Firstly, the Controllers will be recast as Maltusians who split from their brothers over how to deal with evildoers. As for the Zamarons I'm saying that the alien warrior women were originally female Maltusians who left their men. They saw no need to involve themselves in their husbands' crusade; Krona was punished so why keep at it?"

A mischievous grin then crossed Jones face. "I can just imagine it… 'Now you listen here Mr. Guardian of the Universe!'" said Jones in an angry wife impression. "'Today was our anniversary but do you remember?'" Jones pursed his lips. "' I don't think so! "Oh but I'm busy stopping that sun from going nova…" Honestly you care more about perfect strangers than you do about me!'"

There was a round of laughter at the wife joke. Even Miss Kahn smirked at that. "Alright, alright," she said, "let's get back to work."

Jones nodded. "Right boss. The first big story Giffen and I have set for the present will have the Guardians go into exile. I've talked to the current writer Steve Englehart who's been building up to a heck of conclusion in _Green Lantern_ #200. There in his stories, the Anti-Monitor knew that the Corps stood the best chance of stopping him and so launched an attack of Oa.

"The sad thing is that he didn't have to. Despite it being indirectly their fault with how Krona inadvertently created the Anti-Monitor, the Guardians didn't even try to stop the Crisis. They said well, Krona's chicken is coming home to roost so we might as well just kick back and let it happen. When the universe needed its Guardians needed the most, they turned into a bunch of emo whiners ready to let everything go to hell!

"Yes the universe did—does—survive, kids are picking up the last issue of _Crisis_ right now… but it was no thanks to the so-called Guardians. Englehart will reveal in #200 that the reason why is that while they do have eternal life they don't have eternal youth. They've gotten old and they will keep getting older. Yes, the universe got lucky this time but they shudder to think how their beloved Corps will deal with the next universal threat if it's cursed with a doddering, senile leadership. They know if they are no longer able to exercise their duties that the most responsible thing they can do is to abdicate their responsibilities.

"Having decided to retire, they appoint Salaak as the new leader of the Corps and former Guardian Ali Apsa as his right hand. They raised their Corps like their child but now it's time for the child to stand on its own. The Guardians and their Zamaron wives withdraw to a pocket dimension where they can rest and hopefully sire a new generation of Guardians to take their place. The Zamarons, having cultivated the powers of their bodies are much younger and stronger than their intelligent but physically weak husbands and admit to being eager to conceive and bear children after so long.

"As for the larger Corps, Hal just recently became Green Lantern again after leaving to be with Carol. We can work with that. After he left Ferris Aircraft to be destroyed in issue…" he checked his notes, "178 to save another planet, Carol said it's me or the ring. Now realistically, Hal had no choice; what could he have done? Let billions of people die? Still, it hurt him and Englehart ultimately had Hal quit. John Stewart got the ring instead.

"It's not an easy thing. Look here." Jones pulled a comic book from his folder and opened it to show everyone a ringless Hal Jordan who'd been beaten half to death. "He once held the power of the gods in his hands and now he's beaten and humiliated by some punk in an alley. Carol asks him if he's ok. And Hal snaps at her. 'Do I look OK!?'

"Sad thing for Hal is that it was all for nothing. He'd had an on again off again relationship with Carol mostly because she was Star Sapphire. He only gave up the ring because he thought she was cured of it, that the Zamorans who had kept transforming her had given up. He was wrong in the worst possible way. Carol had long since come to hate Hal for playing hero and leaving her to cry. She grew sick of playing the love sick puppy waiting for her man to come home and saw the Zamarons offering her money, power, beauty, and the chance to have anything. She took it and erased her memory as part of a complicated revenge scheme." He paused when he saw their faces. "Seriously guys, Steve used half of #192 to tell it.

"Star Sapphire had previously been a false identity forced on Carol and a rather innocuous one at that who 'only' wanted to have GL as prince consort when she became queen. Not anymore. Its kinda like alcohol; yes the gem's mind altering power has taken her worst qualities up to eleven but when all's said and done its all her. She asked for it and she got it. With how she's now cutoff from her 'loyal' subjects the Zamorans it's just a very angry and embittered woman with the power to enforce her vindictive and selfish whims.

"She's going to be a major villain for the first year or so but not for long. Katma Tui, Green Lantrern of Korugar, will slap some sense into her; she knows how much love can hurt. She left her fiancée for the Corps. That was why she was so hard on Hal when he turned in his ring—and so supportive when he got it back. That's also why she was able to get through to Carol. She still hates Hal but at the same time she still loves him.

"For the next part, I've also been in contact with a fan, Geoff Johns." He pulled out a stack of papers from his portfolio. "He's young, maybe just thirteen, but that's the same age Jim Shooter was when he began work on _Legion of Superheroes_ and other titles. He has ideas and I've promised him that if we get the go ahead that he will be credited and compensated.

"Our ideas thus combined show that in the years since he was exiled to the Anti-Matter universe, Sinestro was making his own Corps. The Weaponeers of Qward, evil worshipping arms dealers of that dimension, made his ring and he's charged them with making more rings like it. He's recruited men for his Sinestro Corps from the ranks of this Anti-Matter Universe and now that the Guardians are gone, he knows it's time to strike. Maybe the Korugarians were a bunch of ingrates but that doesn't mean he was wrong to try to help them. Now it's time to 'help' the universe… For that reason, his soldiers cry out 'In blackest day, in brightest night, beware your fears made into light, let all who'd dare to stop what's right beware my power, Sinestro's might!'

"An example of his backwards logic might see a Lantern whose home world was destroyed in the Crisis." When that story was finally written the alien was named Kilowog. "Desperate to save his people he downloaded all 16 billion of them into his ring and then released them on a new planet. Or so he thought. He might believe he could do such a thing but the ring doesn't work that way. All he's done is surround himself with a civilization of constructs. He's just playing sock puppet with himself because insanity is preferable to accepting his people are dead.

"Sinestro sees this seizes the chance to strike fear into the hearts of the universe when he and his Corps destroy this new world. Yes billions will die but it's for the greater good, isn't it? That at least is what he wants people to believe. For own part, he knows that the Lantern's" Kilowog, "home world is a lie and destroyed it out of respect for this once great Corpsman. He hoped that it would snap him out of it. He succeeded in that though not surprisingly the recipient of his kindness is far from grateful.

"It escalates with the Sinestro Corps launching an _Empire Strikes Back_ level attack OA. Unlike the Rebels, the Corps manages to drive them away but only barely and with heavy casualties. Here we see a moral turning point because as the Sinestro Corps attacks get more intense, as more innocent people die, Lanterns petition for the use of lethal force. They have a prohibition against taking sentient life and their rings' programming enforces it: no lethal constructs. Apa Ali Apsa sees the Lanterns request as just but Salaak shoots it down.

"He pauses to remind the former Guardian that he has given up his power and is only there in an advisory role. Yes, he adds, he does respect everything about the Guardians, and that including their decision to retire for fear of going senile. He warns that the Sinestro Corps is exactly what the GL Corps will become is they cross that line in the sand. How does he know? He knows because that's what Sinestro said! He spoke extensively with Sinestro when they last had him in custody and saw that in a twisted way, the villain still loves the Corps. He created his own only to succeed where the Guardians failed. Well… that and to force the Lanterns to become the Corps he always knew it should be, one that believes that the ends justify the means—any means. 'Tell me right now,' Salaak asks, 'do you really want to belong to a Corps that Sinestro would be proud of?'

Moral debates aside, fans noted that Salaak tended to look the other way when Lanterns facing Sinestro Corpsmen found… creative ways around that prohibition.

"Furthermore adds the four armed administrator to Apa Ali Apsa in private, he's used his ring to scan for alternate timelines where the Guardians ultimately never left. It was meant to gain insight, he added. To his horror, the Corps was brought to the brink of destruction by Guardians gone mad and the decision to kill was the starting point.

"Like the saying goes, the only easy day is yesterday. Some help comes when the new Guardians—and Zamarons—finally arrive. Time flowed differently while they were reared in the pocket dimension by their parents so that they are adults with untold centuries of preparation for their tasks. They saw their fathers in their twilight years and loved them but now their fathers are completely gone mentally and are dependent on the tender mercies of their Zamaron wives.

"The new Guardians are mostly male, though there are some female now. They are much younger than their fathers but say that they will provide an advisory role only to the Green Lantern Corps. They have no desire to take away the autonomy it is gained and deserved. They're kinda like monks or hermits; secluded but available to anyone who makes the trek to seek their wisdom. I don't plan on them getting a major role. We've seen the Guardians long enough and we can try a Corps without them

"It's their sisters, the Zamorans who will steal the show. They will look much more alien than their mothers and will start to form the own corps, the Star Sapphires. As Queen Agapo says, the firstborn of all her sisters, they have already mastered the purple light of love and their mothers created a prototype in Carol Ferris. All that's left is to start recruiting. The Star Sapphires have a very different focus from GLs as they're there to fight evil with the power of love."

Neither Gerard Jones nor a teenage Geoff Johns were surprised when DC released its Star Sapphire/Sailor Moon crossover in 1997. At least in that continuity, it was revealed that Serena's Imperium Silver Crystal was, in fact, a Star Sapphire gem.

"Even the female Lanterns see them as naïve and to be certain they are certainly more emotional and idealistic. Regardless, they'll ultimately prove a useful partner to the GLs and pick up the most interesting recruits. For example…" Jones stopped to pull out a character profile from his folder. "Damn Johns," he said under his breath, "but you'll have to come work for us."

Jones cleared his throat and continued. "For example, one of their Earth recruits will be Arab American girl from Detroit called Sira Baz. She's got lots of love in her heart, for her family, her home, her religion but she's shocked by the… revealing uniform she has to wear. Raised in a conservative Muslim home, Sira asks Queen Agapo if she can make an exception for a more modest uniform. She gets it and busts baddies in a head scarf."

"Modest?" asked Wally Wood. "Are you trying to turn DC into Spires Christian Comics?"

Of course Power Girl's inker would say that. "C'mon Wally," Jones countered, "you have to admit that the clothes we have our female heroes wear wouldn't cut it at your usual church social."

"Maybe not" cut in George Perez, "but is there any reason you're making this new character an Arab?"

"Arab _American_. I'm not trying to make a statement or anything, it's just that after seeing Johns' ideas I got to thinking why not? If they exist, and they do, why shouldn't one of them get superpowers? It's not like there's a rule that only white people can get superpowers, is there?"

Perez smiled. He was going to be watching this.

"Their other Earth recruit," continued Jones, "is Carol Ferris. Queen Agapo is shocked when she personally goes to recruit the woman who had been her mother's queen and finds a bitter, burned out woman filled with hate for Hal and for her life. Carol looks at her gem, dead for years, and mockingly asks what she could possibly know about love. Agapo explains to her that there are many kinds of love; her very name is evokes to the Earth word agape, which means compassionate love. She asks her to come.

"Fully aware that if she doesn't do something, she's going to fall into a pit, Carol decides to go with Agapo to planet Zamoran. The Zamoran people welcome her and assist in her training. She gets back the hang of it after the usual training sequences and more importantly learns to let her feelings towards Hal go. Soon enough, a now more hopeful Carol, motivated by her newfound love for all living things, returns to Earth and the first thing she does is save some people from a burning building. And yes, she says, 'I'm Star Sapphire and I'm just here to help!'

"The next thing she does is track down Hal Jordan and confront him. He's still wary from their last encounter, more so with how she has that blasted ring. She however explains everything to him. She tells him that knows that her chance to marry Hal has long since passed but if she cannot love him as a husband then she can love him as a brother. Can he at least love her as a sister? He says yes, yes he can."

After wrapping up a few remaining points on the subject of Hal and Carol's new love Jones continued on the need for the Corps to find a worthy foe. He said that if DC ever had a crossover on the level of _Crisis_ again, then the GL Corps would have to be the front line. He would get his wish with 1989's _Invasion_ where the Corps served as the single strongest bulwark against an alien alliance's attempted conquest of Earth.

Plotted by his partner Keith Giffen, the Alliance of Dominators, Khunds, Durlans, Okaarans, Thanagarians, Psions, and Citadelians sought to take over the world in the single biggest alien invasion DC ever faced and the Corps was there. Not only was helping the poor Earthlings the right thing to do but the Corps suspected that the Alliance had an even more sinister motive. It was right. The Alliance wanted Earth's metahumans was to unlock the 'metagene' and thus create an army of super soldiers.

The Justice League admittedly did handle the fight on Earth but it was Hal and the rest of Corps that forced the Alliance into hand-to-hand fighting instead of just destroying Earth from orbit with the "photon torpedoes." Quite simply, in the main series and in their own titles, _Invasion_ made everyone, both in the in DCU and in the fandom, realize for the first time just how awesome the Green Lantern Corps could be.

This was only reinforced when the DCU's greatest foe, the Anti Monitor, returned to destroy the universe in _Our Worlds at War_. This time, however, the Corps was there to trade blow for blow. It was Salaak who forged the alliance of the Corps with the New Gods, Earth, and every sentient race in the universe that wanted to live. For all his bureaucratic posturing, it was his knowledge of red tape and politicking, more than anything else, that helped save the universe. The Corps provided the muscle there and in many of DC's other big crossover events something that didn't change when Geoff Johns finally came home to DC.

He had been contributing scripts and plot ideas for years by the time he finally got into the business officially. DC was afraid that that generation's Jim Shooter would take the route that the original had and leave for Marvel; Johns didn't. Instead, he brought in the full Emotional spectrum with revenge crazed Red Lanterns, the greed obsessed Agent Orange, and the compassion based Indigo Tribe. The most interesting tribe was the Blue Lanterns, seen at first as holier-than-thou rivals but who eventually proved their worth. They were partners in peace and auxiliaries in war.

Johns' also orchestrated the long delayed marriage of John Stewart and Katma Tui. The two had had an on again, off again relationship for years in the pages of _Green Lantern Corps_ and the other GL books. Unlike Hal and Carol, however, John and Katma approached love as responsible adults fully aware that love meant sacrifice. Thiers was a hard life but they were ready for it. The fact that they always had each other even made the sad times worth it. Their happiness was only made complete, however, when they adopted a young Korugarian girl named Soranik Natu.

The two Lanterns were of course biologically incompatible but they were determined not to let that get in the way of starting their family. The route was obvious when Katma learned of an orphaned girl in need of one. There were some eyebrows as to what kind of childhood she and John Stewart could provide the girl; certainly unusual and possibly dangerous. Regardless, Soranik genuinely loved her new parents and gained for herself an unparalleled education as she toured the universe. It certainly beat living on the streets and she told her parents that when they asked her feelings.

Geoff Johns revealed his master plan when he revealed Soranik was Sinestro's long lost biological daughter. He had been determined to save the universe from itself, and, in another perceived act of compassion, arranged for his daughter to be adopted by the kindly Natu family. When she asked him why then he had abandoned her to live on the streets, he responded that he hadn't. He thought she died in the fire that killed the Natus; he never knew that her four year old self managed to escape the burning building by dumb luck.

She responded that if his words were true then she wished she hadn't. She told Sinestro that she knew all about the atrocities he had committed in the name of utopia and wanted no part of him. If anything, she hoped to become a Green Lantern to follow in her _real_ father's footsteps.

Fighting back a tear Sinestro could only say, "Then my daughter truly is dead."

**Author's Notes: Hi guys, sorry it took so long! I was thinking of of getting this in time for Christmas; seems that God had other ideas. But then on the other hand, being that Christmastide doesn't truly end until Three Kings Day, January 6th, I guess you'll have your presents after all! Once again, thanks to Sunflare for the help. :-)**

**Sir Thames: Thanks for your kind words as always. :-D**

**Wolvbm:... wow...**

**Well, as for Stephanie Brown, I said in Chapter 12, part 1 that Bett Kane "ceded the Batgirl identity to Barbara Gordon and her proteges like Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain." She's there though I have no thoughts for her.**

**Helena, remember I said she's from a _possible_ future not _the_ future. As such, time can change without her disappearing.**

**As for being a father, yes. After finding hope once more, Bruce took his daughter back and raised her like a father should. Looking back and reading it again, however, I do see that it could have been more clear. :-(**

**Considering the kind of man Superaman is, I see it as very likely that he would give Lois a final goodbye; he would always love her. Good point.**

**Diana and Clark would eventually have a baby but I was running out of time by that time. In all honesty, I thought of writing their earthquake wedding night and climaxing with her saying she'd gotten pregnant! ^_^; But I decided against it... a little too juvenile. ;-)**

**Batwoman and Superwoman... assuming you mean Kara and Barbara... well, I didn't think about that. Considering how the Kara Zor-El Supergirl and the Barbara Gorden batgirl were shown as friends, it stands to reason that when Kara does return that they would get caught up. Considering how Kara has become stronger than ever to being as big a (Kryptonian) man and Barbara, as I wrote her, is physically burned out and getting by on a cane, it would put a crimp on their relationship. They'd probably work around that though.. Thanks for your kind words!**

**That's all for now but I plan on the next chapter coming out a little faster. I should when its for the the fastest man alive!**


	20. Ch 14: The Fastest Man Alive

**Dedicated to creators Gardner Fox, Robert Kanigher, John Broome and all the men who rode the lightning.**

**Chapter Fourteen: ****The Fastest Man Alive**

Guys, I'm going to have break character for a moment because… this should be a Flash chapter and I have nothing to say about him. That's not to say that Flash is a bad character, just the opposite; he made it through the Crisis better that anyone—relatively. That's why he has no place here!

The idea of this quasi-fanfic is how could DC characters have done better in the post-Crisis DCU and the Flash(es) made it through the immediate post-Crisis era perfectly. Their pasts were not rewritten and were used very well to enrich their stories all the way up to the time of the New 52. Barry Alan went out with a blaze of glory and Mark Waid handled his successor so well, in fact, that Wally West needs no improvement in terms of continuity or character. Waid took into account that West had hero worshipped the Flash as a boy and been the president of the man's fan club. Thus when he not only finds out that the Flash is really his uncle but gains speed powers and becomes the man's sidekick, every dream he ever had came true. …And it all came crashing down when his uncle died in the Crisis.

Wally took up the name Flash but was at first very uncertain of himself. That's understandable; Barry Alan already loomed large in his nephew's mind and even larger when he sacrificed his life to save the universe. Waid took that to the next level on becoming writer by saying that West had so idolized his uncle that he was now subconsciously trying to be a bad Flash, to be slow and immature, for fear of one day eclipsing him. It was only until a villain came and, disguised as Barry Alan, tried to disgrace Allan's name that Wally West forced himself to not only be as fast as uncle but faster. With that Wally West became his own man and not just a little kid pretending to be a grownup. He was—is—the Flash.

Wally had a lovely wife, genuinely enjoyed his career as a superhero, was a celebrity, the man was everything a superhero should be. He had has bad days, sure, but he always saved the day and without any angst. He was pure superhero wish fulfillment, Superman without the heavy drama. The same was mostly true for the other Flashes. So, no, I wouldn't change anything about any version of him. Jay Garrick works nice as did Barry Alan. Ditto Wally West. I even liked his villains as is—with how the Rogues (almost) never murder anyone and how their leader Captain Cold actually cares about his men, they might even be anti-heroes by other standards. It's all almost like some kind of _Astro City_ style metafictional commentary on the nature of superheroism.

The only things I _might_ change are to bring Hermes into the picture and keep Wally West.

Since the god and the hero/heroes have crossed paths now and then, why not have Hermes as the patron of the Flash family? Garrick based his costume on the god's winged helmet and winged sandals and said deity _is_ part of the DCU. The New 52 Jay Garrick was even given his speed by a dying Hermes so that it might not be lost. I know that during George Perez' _War of the Gods_ story arc that Wally West raced Hermes. And yes in the _Justice League Unlimited_cartoon, Hermes was mistaken for Flash—with whom he shared a voice actor. "Nah," he said. "It's the original speedster." A post-Crisis DCU where the gods are regular characters and not just Wonder Woman's supporting cast would have been nice.

Who knows? Waid once remarked that Garrick's origin—he inhaled heavy/hard water fumes—struck him as weak and retconned him and the other speedsters as drawing power form a "speed force." What if, in the late 1980s, it's revealed in one issue that Hermes thought to raise up a champion in 1940? He picks Garrick, gives him the power and he lets him merely think that is was fumes. The next day, the new Flash just can't get the image of Hermes with winged helmet out of his mind…

Hermes, Barry Alan, and Wally West all have a mutual friend in Diana. At least some versions of Wally are close in temperament to the deity. It would be kind of cool to see Hermes as a Yoda figure for the Flash family, perhaps taking the place of Max Mercury (!) in that regard. With similar powers and use of iconography, they're the closet things he has to worshippers.

Now to the next part… I like Barry Alan, I really do and he does have a place in one shots or adaptations/alternate continuities or retellings of the past. But Wally West is a great character and it's such a waste to just shunt him aside. It's oddly poetic. He made is through the New 52 as badly as he got through the Crisis well.

DC's New 52 makes some change inevitable with how it's all about new beginnings. However it is a shame to see all Wally's character development stripped away and see him turned back into Kid Flash. (And a Kid Flash who isn't even Barry Alan's sidekick!) It's not like say the _Young Justice_ cartoon which was set in a "young" DC Universe. As young as it is, of course Barry Alan is still the Flash and of course Wally is still a kid in training. The New 52, on the other hand, did not start a new DCU but rather it undid an existing one and threw away what had made one character great.

It's also worth saying that I did not like DC's bringing back the Barry Alan Flash back in 2008. Firstly, they waited far too long for then current readers to be much impressed. Secondly, why should current readers have a man who'd been out of action for years take the place of the Flash who'd been saving the day for all that time? Barry Alan and Wally West are both great characters and it shouldn't be some kind of competition between them but Flash is not like the Green Lantern Corps where GL is a job description and not a name. If x-guy is _the_ Flash, let him be the one and only!

Quite simply, the past should be honored but it shouldn't control the present.

The easiest way out is just to have multiple continuities. One has a Barry Alan Flash with a Wally West sidekick—he might rename himself "Red Lightning" or some such on manhood. Another continuity has a Wally West Flash with a dead or retired Barry Alan. Marvel successfully tried a similar tactic with their regular and _Ultimate_ lines. The regulars continue to chronicle the soap opera lives of the established versions of the characters whilst _Ultimates_ allow writers freedom to start over and go in directions they normally couldn't take. (Reed Richards and Sue Storm divorcing and Spider-Man staying permanently dead come to mind.)

Wally West and Barry Alan can both work as the Flash but not at the same time. I have the same thoughts concerning Bruce Wayne & Dick Grayson simultaneously being Batman and Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes both being Captain America. Unless it's a "franchise" multiple name holders weaken the magic.

Well… c'est la vie. Let's look on the bright side. To paraphrase _Casablanca_, we'll always have fanfiction!

Next chapter should be more on the mark. I already have outlines for Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, and Captain Marvel and can write them in any order. If you have any preferences, just say so in the comments section. Until then. See'ya!

**Author's Note: I was hoping to turn this in faster but I spent time spit polishing. Sorry the last one took so long. ^_^ But enough of my breast beating! Let's get to the stuff!**

**Sir Thames: Glad as always to see you and thanks for the kind words. :-)**

**Wolmbm: Thank you for your compliments!**

**As for Kyle Rayner... its worth saying that I was disappointed by the 2000s decisions to bring back deceased heroes and shunting their heirs aside. Its not like how Clark Kent can be the one and only Superman, no. I read Grant Morrison's run on _JLA_ when it first came out, and, a new fan at the time unfamiliar with the larger DCU, was eager to see the "new generation." I liked seeing the Wally West Flash, Kyle Rayner Green Lantern, and the Conner Hawke Green Arrow. I like to imagine that there's these older superheroes embodying truth and justice and then there are these Three Stooges with Wally-AKA Moe-playing babysitter and wondering if he was that useless in his rookie days.**

**I liked Kyle and I've always been eager to see the DCU advance and come up with new ideas and new characters. That's one of the reasons I am tentatively in favor of the New 52. The reason that Ryan Choi should have had his time as Atom instead of being replaced by Roy Palmer is the same reason I liked Rhonda Pineda as Atom-before she turned evil of course. ;-) **

**As is however... and as much as I've come to like Kyle, I could think of nowhere to put him on the timeline. The whole point behind him was that Hal went nuts and destroyed the rest of the Corps. With how that implicitly never happened that throws Kyle into limbo.**

**However... Maybe at some point, the Salak sees a big threat and calls all veteran Lanterns on a mission. Not sure when Hal Jordan and John Stewart might come back, Salak recruits a certain starving artist to serve as an interim Lantern until Earth's regular Corpsmen return. This unnamed artist as also given the promise of full status should he prove worthy. Jordan and Stewart thus save the day in _Green Lantern Corps_ whilst Kyle Rayner takes _Green Lantern_ for himself.**

**As for Guy Gardner... now I know I need an editor. I can't believe I forgot him! My first comics were the Death, Funeral and Return of Superman trade paperbacks and I was laughing like a madman at Guy's antics there! One thing I must disagree with Geoff Johns is undoing his status as the "moron" of the DC Universe. I actually found him funny as a boorish lout-albeit one with some sense of decency to keep from becoming a cardboard cutout. Besides, he was already established pre-Crisis so he's not going anywhere. Not that I would have made him go away. :-D**

**And yes I have "blamed" the Crisis on the Barry Alan Flash with how his exploration of the multiverse ultimately, if indirectly, led to the continuity headaches that were dealt with in _Crisis on Infinite Earths_. New 52 shows how it could have been done better with the Earths mostly separate and crossovers the exception. To emphasize the uniqueness of the Trinity, the new Earth Two's Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are all dead by the time Earth Two stories start in earnest. Yes the other heroes such as Flash and Green Lantern have their doppelgangers but their separateness is emphasized.**

**In some ways you might even say that Barry Alan dying in the Crisis was the DCU's way of paying him back!**

**Lord Ultimas: This is your first time here so welcome aboard! ;-) AS for Kyle, see above and as for Aresia and Hal, I see no reason why they in the end shouldn't get together. Flash of course is next though after him its uncertain. I am thinking of Aquaman though. Feel free to submit your suggestions. And yes I do hope to do Teen Titans/Young Justice.**

**Michael Weyer: Again its alwasy nice to see a new face, glad you liked it. :-) As for amping up the Rogues... sorry buddy but they're pretty much as is. :-( **

**That's all for now but remember if you have any suggestions for the next chapter just send them in. Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, and Captain Marvel all have their outlines ready to go. Until then God be with you!**


	21. Ch 14: The Fastest Man Alive-Part 2

**Chapter Fourteen: The Fastest Man Alive – Part Two**

Hi guys. After chatting with Wolvmbm I got to thinking about Flash. Maybe Wally West did do well in the post Crisis era but he's not the only Flash. To be honest I didn't even put much thought into the previous chapter at all. Part of it was because I didn't want to get into a multi chapter slog as happened with Wonder Woman and partly because… I didn't love Flash as much as I should. (I was only able to make this chapter after doing a bit of research.) That's wrong of course because every character deserve a shot in the sun. So yeah, here we are. ;-)

**Barry Allen: **Barry Allen vs. Wally West is like _Super Mario Bros_ vs. _Super Mario Bros 3_. Yes, if they are judged by their own merits and their own merits only, the one might be better. If judged in terms of impact made and in terms of laying groundwork for all subsequent iterations of it, the other is definitely the greatest.

Yes it might seem that I don't like Barry or that I'm even glad he died. That's not the case. Anything I might have said earlier was just clown talk. It was Barry who saved superhero comics by inaugurating the Silver Age and it was Barry who not only brought back the Golden Age heroes but inaugurated the multiverse with "Flash of Two Worlds." To this day _Flash_ #123 is still one of the most important and just plain fun to read comics ever made. Maybe things did get complicated at DC by the end due to the multiverse concept but it's not Barry's fault. Quite simply, Barry is still the official greatest Flash of them all. With perhaps the sole exception of Superman, he's the quintessential superhero. "Everyone likes him."

I would not change much but I would tweak a few things so… here we go!

Young Barry Alan idolized Jay Garrick and read all the _Flash_ comic books he inherited from his from his dad—though by 2014 his grandfather. He believed in Flash the way other kids believed in Santa Claus though unlike with other kids nobody ever told him to stop believing. That was good because he didn't exactly have the best home life growing up as a kid; his father was never home, his mother was always depressed, and his grandfather died. In time he graduated to actual biographies on Flash but, however exaggerated and fictionalized they were, it was his dad's old comic books that stole his heart. Barry really means it that if not for him reading those comics and Jay Garrick showing him what being a hero truly meant he might never have become what he is now.

A strange thing that intrigued him, however, was Central City's disappearance—that's Jay Garrick's city. It was there with the Jay Garrick Flash busting bad guys when all of a sudden it just vanished sometime in the 1950s. Barry read every book he could find on the subject and came up empty. Barry then swore as boys are wont to do that he would not only become a great hero like Flash but he would find out what ever happened to Central City.

Most people laughed at this but he would not be dissuaded and ultimately kept both. Lacking superpowers he of course could not be the Flash but he could use his knack for science to fight crime in another way. Lacking powers he became a cop to fight evil in another way as a forensic scientist. That was until he was showered by electrified chemicals that gave him his speed whereon he decided to become a new Flash.

In doing research for this chapter, I came across Mark Waid's _Life Story of the_ [Barry Allen] _Flash_ and it said that after the thrill of being Flash wore off, Allen grew worried of disrespecting Jay Garrick by having taken the name without permission. While that makes for good story what doesn't is Waid's retelling of "Flash of Two Worlds." It's not his fault; he merely retold Grant Morrison's post-_Crisis_ retelling but Morrison's version—everyone forgets that there ever was a Keystone City and the people of the city were all asleep for years—could have been better. So here Keystone City was merely stuck in a time warp instead of being asleep due to the villains wanting a hidden base.

Barry Allen of course quickly realizes he's in long lost keystone City and sets out to find Jay Garrick. After telling him what HAD happened, they combine forces to catch the baddies and rescue the city. The rest of Barry's life and death follows as originally happened. (I really do have to recommend _Life Story of the Flash_, it's the single best summary of the Barry Allen version.)

**Jay Garrick:** Like I said earlier Jay Garrick was reintroduced in _Flash_ #123, "Flash of Two Worlds," one of the most important DC comics ever made for its bringing back Golden Age characters to the DCU and inaugurating the multiverse. Up until Crisis, DC said that Jay Garrick and Barry Allen lived in separate universes; post Crisis, Barry Allen didn't vibrate across dimensions but instead vibrated through the barrier that had separated Keystone from the rest of the DCU for so long. Of course that means they could get much more easily acquainted, they weren't just fellow superheroes but neighbors and good friends.

That leads to something that the actual DCU used very little… If the Jay Garrick Flash—along with the rest of his city—was cut off from the DCU for decades what was it like when he returned? Seriously, if he went into stasis shortly after the Golden Age and appeared just a little while into the modern age of heroes that could mean he went into stasis in 1951 (last "Golden Age" issue) and came out in 1997 (date suggested by a meticulously researched fan timeline _Unauthorized Chronology of the DC Universe_ but moved forward to account for the sliding timescale). Think of it; you're minding your own business when all of a sudden you find out its forty six years later!

DC never took advantage of it but what if? Over at Marvel, Captain America's being a "man out of time" become part of his character. Decades have passed and he worries that he's obsolete, he doesn't know what to do, and even after he carves out a new place for himself, there's always something separating him from everyone else, always the man apart. I'm not saying Jay should be a man out of time but he and others do make a city out of time. The closest DC ever came to it was a story where a gang of hoods start stealing and then selling Keystone City junk at collector's markets as ridiculously high prices. (_Flash_ 80 page giant #2) Unless cultural mores don't change in the DCU, however, technology and fashion are the least of it.

I mean think of it, Jay crosses the bridge to visit nearby Central City to see what life in the 21st century is like. He walks into a store and asks for some cigarettes and people look at him like he's crazy. He sees two women kissing and he raises an eyebrow. He compliments a polite Negro on being a credit to his race and the previously well behaved "boy" storms off. His JSA friends would have gone through the same thing but they had the luxury of having decades to get caught up with the times as those times happened while Jay has to deal with it all at once.

While such disorientation would likely happen to any long sleeper what's different is that it's a whole city of long sleepers. Many Keystoners would likely turn into xenophobic reactionary nuts (villains anyone!) and even those who could adapt to the modern outside world would have no need to with how they are surrounded with like minded people. Keystone probably would develop a conservative streak to avoid any more change, at least until they could process all the change that's already taken place. I can easily imagine a very old fashioned city where city ordinances forbid r-rated movies from playing in theaters, the lottery is illegal, and it's safe to let your children play outside at night in part because everyone's so nice and in part because all the citizens are armed.

Jerry Ordway tried that in his _Power of Shazam_ comic; Shazam the wizard placed a time warp spell on Fawcett City to keep outside evils at bay. Ordway failed in this respect as Captain Marvel's city came across more as clean than old fashioned.

There might perhaps be a need to retire Garrick though. It's one thing to see him active in the 1970s when he would have been in his fifties but it's quite another to see him active in 2014 when he'd by over ninety years old. Even taking into account the idea that he was in a time warp or his aging slowed, and that in real life there are those who maintain active lifestyles at that age, he's still have to be physically in his sixties. It's kind of mean to have a man that old doing the work the next generation should have taken over a long time ago.

There are some parts of the New 52 reboot I really like and the fact Jay has been rebooted as a young man is one of them.

**Wally West and Jesse (Quick) Chambers:** I bring them together because their paths are very similar in this. Raised by an earlier speedster to one day become heroes, both Wally and Jesse eventually take up their mantles. The former of course managed to retire from civilian life when he inherited a reformed villain's money upon said man's death. (Day job? Wally mocks the idea of day jobs!) He was effectively a "fulltime" superhero with his girlfriend/wife Linda Park bringing in the paychecks. Jesse on the other hand, managed a double life as a heroine and as a corporate CEO.

As I said, Wally and Linda eventually married in the actual comics in 2000. (Vol. 2 #159) They also had two kids, Jai and Iris who inherited a portion of their father's power. Thing is, being a father is one of the biggest responsibilities any man can have and Wally would feel that burden that much more keenly. His own father, Rudolph West, was said to be a hard man from whom he received little love; as nice a guy as our man is he would doubtless try to give Jai and Iris the love he never got from his father. This only becomes stronger with how his Uncle Barry showed him exactly what a father should be like. That in the end is probably why Wally was so close to his uncle, retroactively speaking.

If a man isn't willing to give 110 percent to his children, he has no right to call himself a father. My own mom quit her job when I was born and why not? My dad was making good enough money to cover any losses. By the same token, if the wife is the better wage earner and there are children, then there is no logical reason why the husband shouldn't be a stay at home dad in order to look out for them. Who else would look after the children, daycare? My dad can be a mean old cuss but I would have much rather been raised by him as a stay-at-home-dad than strangers whose only interest in me would have been the fees I could bring.

That's something I didn't quite like about Geoff Johns' run on _Flash_; giving Wally a day job and a secret identity. Wally's public identity and lack of a day job set him apart both from other heroes and more importantly from Barry Allen. It also made no sense concerning his fatherhood. I can understand Wally wanting a secret identity by that point to keep his kids safe but to have a day job when he's already a full time hero, a Justice Leaguer, a husband, AND a dad? Not even he's fast enough! So…

Wally West has been Flash, both in name and in spirit, for years. Nobody doubts his worthiness to the name. Even Captain Cold, in a sort of reverse respect, has stopped going easy on him for being a sidekick and started fighting him like he fought Uncle Barry. Like I said, when he took up his uncle's name he at subconsciously tried to be a bad Flash for fear that he might one day eclipsing his beloved uncle. When a villain tried to disgrace his Barry Allen's memory, however, he forced himself to not only be as fast as his uncle but faster. At long last, his childhood dream of growing up to become Flash has true, he's made it! And it all changes when he gets Linda pregnant with twins.

He looks around at the kids of superheroes and gets worried. Some kids are killed by their father's villain (Arthur "Aquababy" Junior by Black Manta). Some grow up hating their fathers for loving their sidekicks more than them (Hector Hall towards his dad, Golden Age Hawkman). Wally eventually calls in fellow speedster Jesse Chambers with whom he has worked with in the past and lays out a plan.

Wally has no need of money whatsoever; he's set for life financially. What he will need is time as there is no way he can keep up with all the responsibilities he already has and be a good father on top of it. He wants to a good father to his kids, a better father than Rudolph West was to him. With how the babies stand to be born with superpowers, he, not Linda, will have to spend a lot of time with them lest they start sonic booms by crawling at super speed. Wally asks Jesse Chambers if she can be Flash.

She at first isn't sure but Wally knows she can do it. She's really the only one as Johnny Quick is dead by that point and Hermes is too out there. Jay Garrick is an old man and just isn't as strong as he used to be. Wally reassures Jesse that he'll still be there to give her back up when she needs it and he still plans to serve as a Justice Leaguer. (It would be almost criminal for him to have the power and not use it to help others somehow.) Day-to-day superheroics in Keystone City and Central City, however, will be in her hands.

Jesse agrees and dons a modified Kid Flash costume, adding a black jacket and red sunglasses. After Wally introduces her to the public and there gives her an official stamp of approval, Jesse takes over as Flash IV. She quickly earns the name as how now Wally is only a part-time super hero in order to focus on his family and… because she's just that good. Jesse arguably stands to be an even better Flash than Wally as she not only has her father's speed but also her mother's super strength. All across America, little girls sign up for track and little boys put up posters of their mutual girlfriend in their rooms.

It comes full circle when, after a few years pass, little Iris successfully petitions her father to be Jesse's sidekick. Iris dreams of being a superhero and after getting permission begins formal training under "Aunt" Jesse as Impulse. Flash IV gladly welcomes her apprentice and the two lovely ladies together race the lightning. It warms Wally's heart; it's him and Uncle Barry all over again. As for Wally, the fact that both his kids, Jai and Iris, have gained full control of their powers and go to school means that he has enough free time to resume active superheroics. He makes sure, however, to tell everyone that Jesse will keep her codename. The world's big enough for two Flashes.

That's not to say that he's spent all that time just playing Mr. Mom. Like he told Jesse when he first made the arrangement, he stayed busy with the Justice League and whipped the rookies into shape. Wally sometimes felt a little out of place, taking his uncle's place on the team but uncertainty evaporated when Kyle Rayner joined as Green Lantern. Wally knows that Hal had to leave Earth to deal with some intergalactic threat with all the rest of the Corps and that this Kyle is the best replacement that the Guardians could come up with on such short notice but… argh! The new Green Arrow is even worse in that respect. Wally just hopes that he wasn't such a rookie when he took up the name Flash…

What can I say, I like women in spandex! It's worth remembering that in "real life" Wally already gave Jesse his name when he was wheelchair bound, even if sadly it was a hoax to get Impulse to take things more seriously, so there is precedence. (Vol. 2 #131)She would have also stood to be a much better Flash IV as she had already been an adult superhero for years when Bart Allan took up the name Flash because he was a guy and he had been artificially aged to adulthood.

Besides, Flash is a gender neutral name and, at the risk of sounding sexist, super speed is somewhat more feminine than manly strength. It's easier to imagine a female Flash than a female Aquaman/Aquawoman. We already saw Wally's daughter as Kid Flash in the possible future of _Kingdom Come_—which is where the costume design came from—and one Elseworlds, _Superman/Batman Generations_ showed a very convincing Flash IV. She wore a modified Kid Flash costume and was dating that continuity's Kyle Rayner Green Lantern.

**Hermes/Max Mercury and Impulse**: This is another double header. It all goes back to the Quality Comics' Golden Age super hero Quicksilver. He was a very vague character with neither a real name nor an origin; all that we knew was that he was fast. Debuting less than a year after Jay Garrick, he was a Flash also-ran and never caught up. In fact, when Mark Waid found him, he'd been languishing first in Quality limbo and then DC limbo for decades. That of course meant that Waid could reinvent him anyway he wanted without contradicting anything.

In real life, Quicksilver became Max Mercury, zen master of sped, and mentored various speedsters, including Barry Allen's grandson Impulse. Here though…

Hermes/Mercury was always a little more active in the mortal sphere than his fellow Olympian gods. He was a fun loving rogue and always ready for another journey. With Zeus forbidding any more direct interference in mortal affairs in the wake of Christianity, however, that changed. Hermes learned the hard way that good old days were over when he saw the mortals smashing his statues to powder and burning down his temples. Worse, their new god not only shielded the turncoat mortals from his attacks but when he tried to fight the new god himself… well, there's a reason that from then on he swore to always wear a disguise when in the mortal world. Yes it was partly to operate in the human world without breaking Zeus' laws—and more importantly not provoke the Divine (with a capital "D") to anger.

He ultimately adapted well to all this, disguises were nothing new to trickster Hermes, after all. Also, while he missed the temples and incense, hearing applause from mortals for whatever heroic identity he'd created for that adventure had its own charm. It continued through the centuries, every generation he'd appear somewhere new, don a disguise, save the day, and enjoy the cheers of the crowd before saying goodbye and moving on.

In the 1940s Hermes adopted the name Quicksilver and became a "superhero." He ultimately revealed his real name to speedsters Jay Garrick and Johnny Chambers, giving the new fellows training in their speed. Hermes was closer to Garrick, though, with how his uniform was meant to honor him. This continued with the later Flashes though straight laced scientist Barry Allen never quite liked him. The more relaxed Wally West had an easier time though.

In the Flash family, Hermes found perhaps, some of the only real worshippers he had left and took them under his protection. It's not every day he would play Yoda, but he'd appear at irregular intervals to give advice or comfort in times of need. He tried to cheer up Wally after his uncle died in the Crisis, for example. When there's myth or magic involved, Hermes played backup.

Meanwhile, in the future Iris Allan, mourned her late husband Barry. She didn't mourn him forever as she was pregnant with his children. She lived a happy life with her kids the Tornado Twins but things took a turn when Don Allan's son Bart was born with a condition that caused him to age at an extreme speed. Remembering Wally and Hermes, Iris arranged for her grandson to be sent to the past so that perhaps he might be saved.

For his part, Hermes was having a fine time. The Flashes were keeping the brand alive, he could walk openly for the first time in centuries, he palled around with Wonder Woman, and he was once again serving as Olympus messenger to the mortal world, the superhero community in particular. (He shares that with Diana, especially after she becomes a goddess.) Thus when some punk kid named Impulse shows up and says you have to take care of me, he's thrown for a loop.

I'll be honest, I only know very little about Impulse—most of it's from DC wiki. I read a few _Young Justice_ comics and maybe three _Flash_ comics he starred in. From what I do know, it would be nice to see Hermes tearing his hair out with having to raise Bart Allan. ("I don't believe it. The kid's giving me gray hair and I'm supposed to be immortal!") What would make it more difficult is that Hermes would know that he behaved the exact same way when he was a boy. In such a set up Hermes would wind up going to see his bother Apollo and apologize for stealing his pet cows when he was a baby. That one's an actual myth you know.

Beyond that, I just don't know enough about Impulse to say anything authoritative about him. I know he started out as bordering on ADHD; one comic I read has him playing Truth-or-Dare and curling up into a ball and whimpering when he's dared to be quiet. I don't know how seriously _Young Justice_ can be taken but even if exaggerated that does reveal something. It was eventually called out when he made the decision to grow up and became Kid Flash.

All I can say was that his becoming Flash IV was a mistake. While Impulse seemed to be maturing his getting the name Flash the way he did felt artificial and forced. He disappears and returns later having aged to adulthood so that means he can be Flash? Doesn't work, especially with how he was ultimately de-aged and turned back in to a teenager.

I don't fault the writers for the last part; part of a shared universe is that maintaining consistency with other writers means that things can change instantly. (And of course, the editors make their decisions.) Still it seemed to be all for nothing. Who knows, maybe here Impulse will not only become Kid Flash but after growing up become a heroic version of Zoom! ("Hey Grandma Iris, what do you think of my new Reverse Flash costume?" "Take off that filth this instant young man! Right now!)

**Johnny Quick/Liberty Belle:** I really have no thoughts for either Johnny Quick or his wife Liberty Belle for the simple reason that I don't know enough about either version to say anything definitive. I know that Johnny Quick eventually died and that Liberty Belle eventually retired from active superheroics. I have one issue of _JSA_ (2000s version, #54) where she's gone on to become a cool old lady.

It's Thanksgiving and the other Golden Age heroes' wives are now old wrinkled and gray haired but Libby look like she's in her fifties. When asked about her relative youth—she was so pretty in her costume!—she just said that nothing fights wrinkles like super strength. That was nice as was her badgering her daughter to get married. "Sweety, Hour Man II is cute and he cooks!" I'd have liked to see more of that.

**Author's Notes: I hoped you liked this and thanks to Wolvmbm for reminding me of my duty. For now however I'll be getting back to work on Aquaman, or more precisely Atlantis. It will draw some inpsiration from Peter David's _Atlantis Chronicles_ but go in own direction. After that's the Martian Manhunter, and then Captain Marvel. Past that, the Justice League and then… only God knows. For now however, long live the King of the Seven Seas!**

**Sir Thames: Hello good sir and thanks for you kind words. :-) Yes I have heard of the New 52 and as to my thoughts... mixed to favorable. Somethings I don't like such as losing Wally, or Captain Marvel being some punk kid. Some things I do like such as Superman and Wonder Woman dating, a chance to latch on to the story without having to know decades worth of back issues. (There are limits to how many comics a man can read!) All in all, I'm cautiously optimistic and willing to give it a shot.**

**Wolvbm: Thanks for the kind words! It'll be Aquaman, than Manhunter, and then either the League and its related teams or Captain Marvel.**

**Michael Weyer: Well sometimes there's not much to do though as Wolvbm reminded me, you can always find something else. ;-)**

**Ultimas: You'll like what I have planned for the hook hand. :-D But I must say, what you said about the Manhunter sounds nice. Can I use it? Oh and what do you think of Impulse showing his Grandma Iris his new costume? :-p**


	22. Ch 15: Marine Marvels

**Paul Norris was alright but Mort Weisinger is all wet!**

**Chapter Fifteen: Marine Marvels**

**Place: Offices of DC Comics, New York City**

**Year: 1986**

All the staff arrived the next morning and after a brief brunch continued their meeting. Jenette Kahn admitted that nobody had any major ideas for Flash and hoped that the next writer would be able to make things up as he went along. "So, any ideas for Aquaman?"

"If it aint broke don't fix it."

Peter David sighed at the words of the last man. "I believe what Neal Posner is trying to say is that we should continue with what we've been doing: build on existing stories instead of deconstructing them. We've been talking and I have a few ideas. By your permission my Kahn."

She raised an eyebrow. _As long as it gets results_. "Well, what do you have to say for Aquaman? If I like it, I'll give the go ahead."

"Right." David cleared his throat and scanned his mind. "Well… the whole of idea of _Crisis _was to clean house and take advantage of our 50th anniversary rejuvenate our heroes and universe for another fifty years. That includes Aquaman. If you look closely and compare him to other heroes, you'll see he is the reverse of other Silver Age revivals. Hawkman, for example, went from reincarnated Egyptian prince to an alien space cop. Aquaman, on the other hand goes from a young man endowed by his scientist dad with sci-fi super powers to being fathered by a lighthouse keeper on a mermaid. This has real potential and can take him past the _Superfriends_ stereotype people have of him."

"And what's wrong with _Superfriends_?" E. Nelson Bridwell asked huffily.

On seeing the look on the old man's face Kahn stepped in. "Listen Bridwell, let's just agree to disagree for now. Continue David."

He looked across the conference table and said, "Sorry Mr. Bridwell I was just trying to say we need to improve the character and that people have… underestimated the cartoon's version of the him." After a nod and an apology accepted he continued. "We need people to take Aquaman more seriously and this is how we're going to do it. By your leave my Kahn."

"Oh but of course!"

"One of the earliest mentions of Atlantis occurs in _Action Comics_ #17, in a 'Zatara the Magician' story. We actually got to see the city in the next issue. Until the Silver Age and even through it, writers saw no need for continuity between the different versions of the lost continent. I was doing research and I even saw old Mort the war—" He stopped when he saw the look on Schwartz' face. "…the editor tell off a fan who asked why was it Atlanteans in Superman were mermaids like Lori but Atlanteans in Aquaman stories were humanoid."

David pulled out and checked a paper from his folder. "It was the _Adventure Comics_ #264 letter column and guess what Mort, Aquaman's own creator, essentially told the kid who wrote that letter? The kid's name was John Beach—and no, I didn't make that name up—and he told him screw you. Quote, 'we publish fiction and documented history,' end quote. Mort said each character had his own continuity but DC had no intertitle continuity in order for writers to have maximum freedom. While continuity should never get in the way of a good story… things have since moved on since Mort wrote that.

"My dream is a series called _Atlantis Chronicles_ that would combine every, seemingly contradictory, story we've ever told about the lost continent into one narrative. It would tell of the fall of the lost continent, how it sunk beneath the waves, how its people learned to breath underwater, why Lori Lemaris and her fish tale Atlanteans are different from Aquaman's humanoid Atlanteans, and all that stuff"

Kahn raised an eyebrow. _And I'm not the only one doing so_, she thought after scanning the room. "That's very… ambitious David but listen... Aquaman's a b-list character and giving him a maxi series—because that's what this is going to be—that's not even about him is iffy. I didn't even give Superman a twelve parter for his 'how he grew up from Superboy to Superman' story."

"But Miss Kahn you just did! Remember you gave Maggin and crew the green light after hearing their pitch. You gave them their chance, now give me mine."

She patiently smiled. He had her there. "Alright Clubber Lang, what do you have for me?"

"_Atlantis Chronicles_ will open in 1941 where we'll see Aquaman swimming about a sunken ruin. From what we pick up we'll see that he's not Arthur Curry, he's the Golden Age Aquaman who name is finally revealed to be Arthur Joseph Perkins son of oceanologist Phillip Perkins. Mort's origin stays; AJ Perkins' dad found an underwater city, assumed it was Atlantis, and then used his super science to give his son superpowers. AJ then used his power to become a superhero and he spent the 40s fighting Nazis, smugglers, and pirates. I've also talked to Roy Thomas about this and he says that he can even mix in Edgar Allen Poe's _Gordon Pym_ and _20,000 Leagues under the Sea_ into AJ Perkins origin! The prologue ends when this Aquaman comes across an Atlantean history scroll and begins reading it.

"Atlantis was, of course, the first known civilization on Earth and in the beginning it was very different from its current descendant. Founded 1,000,000 years ago Atlantis referred both to the continent and to its vast empire, which spread across the Earth. They colonized the world and were living like gods whilst the rest of humanity was still living in caves and wearing animal skins; they were also the first to uncover magic.

"Most of that magic came from the Earth itself, which has inherent magical powers. The ancients built twelve major city-states over each confluence of ley lines to tap this power and each city-state was ruled by sorcerer-monarch. About 500,000 years ago the long-lived and peace loving Calculha, first and greatest of the wizards, was seduced by wicked Majistra of Mu, the only other civilization. They had two children together: Ahri'ahn (the elder) and Garn Daanuth. They divorced soon after the boys' births and raised them separately.

"By 50,000 BC, science dominated the twelve great cities and Atlantis remained a glorious civilization. At the same time, it was a shade of the wonder it had been before then and dark times were upon it. It was the time of the Ice Age and the Atlantean confederacy looked for other places still warm and green.

"Some explorers headed south and found a portal to an underground world. Earth was found to be hollow and it was a tropical paradise; there was only one thing preventing a mass migration of Atlanteans. The jungles of Skartaris, as they named the land, were warm enough but there were all those pesky dinosaurs. The king of that time sent colonists to establish a foothold and they succeeded but they eventually lost contact. I'll leave the rest of Skartaris' story in the capable hands of Mr. Grell."

_Warlord_'s author nodded

"A couple of Muvians even left Earth in an ark-like ship. When they returned to reclaim the Earth in the 20th Century, they would clash with the original Justice League of America. It was in _JL_ of _A_ #88. Who knows maybe the reason that so many aliens look human was because Atlanteans flew off in their space ships to colonize other worlds!

"A side effect of these colonization efforts is that Atlantis, the cradle of all civilization, leaves its influence on the entire world. Over in _Arion: Lord of Atlantis_ letter column, Paul Kupperberg or his editor said the same thing. In America, North Africa, Mexico, Europe, Scandanavia and India there are names for the fabled land—and they all beginning with the letters 'At-'. This all led to a widespread Atlantean influence but as time passed many of these city states and colonies lost all ties with mighty Atlantis. Some survived and some didn't; this means that every great white hunter whom we've had 'discover Atlantis' can honestly say he did."

"Wait a minute," interrupted Perez, "are you forgetting Venturia and Aurania?"

"What?"

"When I did research for Wonder Woman, I read one of her Golden Age stories was her fighting Queen Clea of Atlantis. Clea controlled only the city of Venturia and she wanted to retake the city state of Aurania."

"I could use that," responded David. "Thanks George! You know… I'll be using the gods. Can I count on your help when we get there?"

Perez smiled. "Sure Peter!"

After checking his notes, David said, "It's at this time that the quasi immortal Arion, becomes a great hero and champion of his people. He and his friends go on many sword and sorcery, high fantasy adventures across a prehistoric Ice age world meeting barbarian cavemen and civilizations future men would call lost in a Conan-the-Barbarian-esque romp through Middle Earth."

Kahn nodded. "You have my attention. Keep going!"

"Right boss." _I got it. __**I got it!**_ "Now we've discussed Arion. His story is still on so maybe he'll save the world maybe he won't. If he fails, we'll see that only a part of Atlantis was destroyed. Even if just an archipelago, Atlantis survived. The capital city of this new Atlantis was Poseidonis and its nearest neighbor was Tritonis. They grew and survived above water for over 30,000 years.

"It was about 10,000 BC that the last inundation came to pass. There had long been fears that one day Atlantis would fall beneath the waves. Scoffers said it would never happen. They were the first to die when it did. Before, I've been retelling other people's stories. From here, it's my game.

"This is the time when the Titans still ruled the world. The Atlanteans' old gods were no more and they looked to Chronos and his people to be their divine patrons. When King Orin took the throne, he even pledged his loyalty to the god Atlas and invited him to plant the Garden of the Hesperides on Atlantean soil. It's worth saying that however cruel they might have been to their children, the Olympian gods, the Titans actually did care about their mortal worshippers; they at least never treated mortals like play things. It wasn't a perfect life but it was a good one. Chronos led the mortals of the land that would one day become Italy into a Golden Age and Atlantis flourished under Atlas' protection.

"And it all went to Tartarus when Zeus emerged from hiding and raised up armies against the Titans and their followers. In these wars, science loving King Orin would use his laser cannons and robots against the Cyclopes and hundred handed giants Zeus sent against him. His brother, Shalako, on the other hand, was a religious zealot and called upon Hecate, Titan goddess of magic, to strike at the monsters. After this, Orin ordered the erection of a transparent dome over the capital city of Poseidonis for protection. It wasn't built a moment too soon because Zeus eventually decided that Atlantis had to be destroyed.

"Now, Atlas was general of Chronos forces so it was only natural that his people be struck down—though to be fair they _were_ actively helping out Atlas out of gratitude for all his good deeds. If Zeus had any remorse over ordering the equivalent of a nuclear strike, he rationalized it on the idea that the ends justified the means. Besides, the Atlanteans were only human so who'd mourn them? Atlantis met its final fate when the last archipelago of a mighty continent was cast down to the bottom of the sea. The only reason it was spared complete destruction was thanks to Atlas and his grandfather, the sea god Oceanus, who was neutral in the struggle, using their combined power to reinforce the dome."

He smiled. "That is of course Mr. Myth gives the ok."

Perez laughed. "I'd be a fool not to!"

"Thanks George. Needless to say, Atlantean society was thrown into chaos. The dome, reinforced by their Titan gods, had saved the lives of the Poseidonians, but tensions continued to mount between Orin's Technocrats and Shalako's Shalakites. Orin held faith in the gods, not the Olympians of course, but knew that there had to be gods out there who would be their symbols, that would help them in time of need. Shalako went in a far different direction.

"With their oldest gods forgotten and the Titans they had loved—Atlas and Oceanus—gone, there was nothing left for Shalako to believe in. Oh there were the Olympians but he only spoke of them to blaspheme them. There wasn't even his beloved Hecate for she had betrayed the Titans to serve Zeus. Shalako instead turned to mysticism and magic. Perhaps he might accept Oceanus and Atlas if they are returned but barring that, he would not call on any god. _Ever_. With strong enough magic, men would become their own gods.

"He and his followers rejected Orin's rule and left to colonize the abandoned city of Tritonis. With their magic, he and his followers created a 'hard water' dome over the city and restored its glory. Shalako was made king of course and his first decree was on matters of faith. Tritonis was to possess a state religion of faithlessness. He knew the gods existed but would permit no worship of them in protest of their cruelties. With how Orin continued to supplicate the gods, any god, in hope of getting a deity's help, hostilities between Poseidonis and Tritonis began almost immediately.

"The adjustment to underwater live was not easy and Orin assumed that Atlantis was all that remained alive on Earth. His scientists soon invented a way to allow Atlanteans to breathe underwater and the good king offered it to his brother's people. By then Shalako had come to distrust science as it required you to accept scientific laws that were put there by whatever god created reality. Better magic which allows you to reject the reality the gods had made and lets you create your own. Shalako was, of course, outraged when his Tritonians ultimately accepted the serum and cursed them to lose their legs and grow fishtails. The Tritonians responded by lynching Shalako.

"As generations passed, the Atlanteans grew accustomed to their underwater lives. They flooded their city and began to spread out across the sea. Some underwater colonies were loyal to Poseidonis and some were loyal to Tritonis; the two city states both claim to be the one true Atlantis. It's worth saying that when I do write this the two cities won't call themselves Poseidonis and Tritonis until about 1,500 BC. They'll have called themselves something else but not those two names; I've only called them that for convenience. You see, by that time, Zeus had released some of the Titans and, borrowing a page from Mr. Myth if he allows it…" Perez nodded, "…the gods wanted insurance in case most of their other worshippers turned against them. With how isolated they are from outside influence, why not cultivate worship amongst the Atlanteans?

"And myths accuse mortals of hubris… Do you expect the Atlanteans to give their hearts to the gods who destroyed their world with not even with a 'we punished you because you deserved it' but a 'who cares about you?' They, however, decided to put the gods to the test by asking them for one simple thing: an apology. Zeus, of course, balked and refused to submit himself to mortal judgment and cursed the Atlantean royal family with sterility. With how the royal family had ruled in an unbroken line back to the very beginning of Atlantis tens of thousands of years ago and had been the only thing the Atlantean people had left to believe in, this is was doubly terrible. Most of the other gods followed Zeus lead and walked away. There is one exception though.

"Poseidon apologized. Even if they were serving his enemies, the Titans, the killing of so many innocent men, woman, and even children was… wrong. This was a surprise because as the god of seas and earthquake, he was the one that got the job of destroying Atlantis. He remembered when his son Polyphemus was crippled for life by Odysseus. Even if Athena's minion was justified in blinding the murderous cannibal, that cannibal, Poseidon said, was still his son. Thus, even if those who died in Atlantis were 'only' mortals, every one of them was someone's son or daughter. He swore on oath on the River Styx his sincerity. He said he was sorry.

"His family swore the same oath, both Amphritrite and their son Triton. Triton proved his sincerity beyond all measure when he sacrificed his godhood to undo curse of sterility that Zeus had placed on the Atlantean royal family. Both Poseidon and Amphrtite knew nothing of this and were as shocked as the mortals. What shocked them even more was when crying Atlanteans rushed towards the divine family to hug them tight. The queen of that time, tears running down her face shouted long live Poseidon. Those man-hating Ama-whatsits could keep Athena, Zeus and the rest of the rotten bunch; they were sticking to the sea god!

"As for the now mortal Triton, the Atlanteans made him king by acclimation and he took as bride the Atlantean queen whose sterility he had cured. The dynasty was thus ensured and from that day forwards, every king of the lost continent was dubbed 'Son of Poseidon.' As a token of his affection for his mortal descendants, Poseidon even gave them his trident as a symbol of both royal and divine power. They even renamed their two principal cities Poseidonis and Tritonis in the gods' honor."

Peres snickered. _The fish tailed Tritonians named their city after Triton. Nice mythology gag David._

"This in fact was a time of a great religious revival among the Atlanteans. They made peace with the Olympians with their kings becoming the de facto high priests of their new religion. As they spread out across the continental shelves of every landmass in the world, Atlantean colonies embraced local sea gods as their patrons. This also lead to another thing as each group of Atlanteans was remade in the image of the local god—an inevitable result of the curse that Shalako had put on the mutation serum that gave them the power to breathe water. This will be the default explanation for any and all humanoid sea people we've seen through the years.

"It also led to a Balkanization in Atlantis. In modern times, Aquaman's government can only claim direct rulership of Poseidonis and, to a lesser degree Tritonis. That's nothing to sneeze at since Poseidonis is the Washington DC and Vatican of Atlantis while Tritonis is their New York. The relationship that the Atlantean city states have to the throne is the kind of relationship the Commonwealth countries have with Britain. Same language, same culture, same king but each one has a different government. They have varying degrees of autonomy and the smaller, weaker city states of course are more dependent on Poseidonis, by far the largest and most powerful of them all. Others are completely independent and they see the king as the guy that shows up every now and then to wave at the crowds.

"A good example is seen in 1,000 BC the people of Poseidonis and Tritonis jointly decide to launch a war of conquest against the surface world. A faction calling itself Idyllists object, and leave Poseidonis to form their own city. An explorer learns that life still exists above the waves and King Honsu declares a war of conquest against the untermensch. After all, aren't Atleanteans favored by the gods? Aren't the surface dwellers just animals squatting on lands rightfully belonging to their masters?

"The Atlantean invaders were the invading 'Sea Peoples' history records during the time of Pharaoh Ramses III. However, the water breathers couldn't survive the sun and deserts and the invasion stalled in Egypt. King Honsu ordered his troops to retreat, leaving his son Haumond behind. Haumond had been against the invasion from the start and had participated only out of loyalty to his father and the vain hope of turning his father's heart.

"The Atlanteans continued their conquest in Europe, enslaving the Minoans of Crete and establishing a base on Thera/Santorini. In Athens, Honsu challenged the Greeks to send their greatest warrior against his favored son Kraken. Kraken was defeated by the Athenian champion—who turned out to be Haumond—and their base of Thera was destroyed in a tremendous explosion. (You might remember how conspiracy theorists cite the Santorini eruptions and the subsequent collapse of the Minoan civilization as the source of the Atlantis myth.)

"Haumond returned to Egypt and became one of Pharaoh's courtiers and thus we set the stage for the old Egyptian who told Solon the Greek the story of Atlantis that was passed down to Plato who wrote one small portion of it in Criteus and Timeus.

"On the surface world, empires rise and fall, and the Christian era begins. In time, Atlantis and its people passed into surface world legend. This is, of course, the DC Universe so the belief in mermaids and undersea kingdoms is not dismissed out of hand. Your average sailor stands a good chance of seeing an Atlantean, humanoid or otherwise, at least one time in his life. Even if he doesn't, he'll know somebody who saw a sea monster or mermaid himself. Above all, every air breather knows that when he sails he is only a guest in Poseidon's domain and must pay his respects.

"That's true for Tom Curry who as a young sailor in the US Coast Guard paid mock obeisance to Poseidon when he and his fellow polliwogs crossed the equator for the first time. It's an old sailor's tradition; someone dresses up as Poseidon and orders all sorts of pranks pulled on the new guy and the new guy has to stand there and take it. The captain made a poor sea god—so to say—and nobody took the sailor he chose to play Amphritrite seriously. It was just a cheap joke and to a degree that the point but when Tom Curry kneeled in the sea god's name he fell unconscious and had visions. It would prepare for times to come.

"But I'm getting ahead of myself. _Atlantis Chronicles_ ends in 1940 with Golden Age Aquaman closing the record book and swimming away. I think we can take a break and come back next time for the _real_ Aquaman himself."

**Author's Notes: You've probably noted that each title is some kind of reference to each character's history. Superman's chapters were "Truth, Justice, and the American Way" while Wonder Woman's chapters had lyrics from her song. I assure you that Marine Marvel was one of Aquaman's nicknames, albeit a nearly forgotten one today. I just though it would fit the chapter well. ;-)**

**Its also worth noting that I've begun a new story, _Godzilla: The Monster Wars_. Rather, I'm reposting albeit with Author's notes/commentary and new material. If you're interested in giant monsters, go on ahead and just go to my profile page!**

**But on to the letters shall we?**

**Lord Ultimas: Sorry but it'll be Aquaman next (as you can see from the above!). Your ideas for the Manhunter are nice though. As for Impulse... is it amusing good or amusing bad? -_-;**

**Wolvmbm: Thanks for your kind words and thanks for inspiring this chapter!**


	23. Ch 16: King of the Seven Seas

**Chapter Sixteen: King of the Seven Seas**

**Place: Offices of DC Comics, New York City**

**Year: 1986**

"Tom Curry," said Peter David, "served in the US Coast Guard for years before he retired to become a lighthouse keeper. It was a lonely job but he was a bit of a loner; he had been since he had had that 'vision of Poseidon.' The Coast Guard's in charge of lighthouses, anyways, so he knew what to do when he left the service. He moved to a small fishing village in Maine called Amnesty Bay and volunteered for the loneliest job in town.

"He stayed there at his post day in day out, only coming to town once a month for supplies. It might have stayed that way for the rest of his life until there came an especially powerful storm, a hurricane actually, and he saw a woman adrift in the waves clinging to a raft. With that all his Coast Guard training kicked in and he went to the rescue. Curry braved the hurricane, the wind and the waves and managed to rescue her. When she got her back to the warmth of the lighthouse, to blankets and hot coffee, however, she, to his shock was perfectly fine. She should have drowned ten times over but aside from admittedly nasty bruises, she was in better shape than he was.

"She claimed to have no family or home and wouldn't answer questions about where she came from. All she'd give was her name, Atlanna. With nowhere else to go she stayed with him for a time; to his surprise she was a Poseidon worshipper like he was. Tom thought he was the only eccentric in the world. She also loved the sea like he did and they soon swore their marriage by the sea god.

"When the next month rolled around, the people of Amnesty Bay were shocked when Curry strolled into town with his new wife though they did give her a warm welcome. When he told the story, they joked that a woman falling out of the sky was the only way he'd ever have gotten a wife. Atlanna was a mystery to them but even more so to Tom. Why was she always so weak? Why did she spend hours on the beach just staring at the ocean? Why did she have to shower five times a day? Why was it that when she prayed to Poseidon before his fishing trips he always caught double, quadruple, octuple, the fish he otherwise would? (And on perfect seas to boot…) And how was it that she slept all night in the bathtub that one time covered in water without drowning?"

David saw the smiles in the crowd and nodded. "Tom had his suspicions but he never asked her. He'd heard too many stories about otherworldly wives who left their human husbands when they tried to pry into their secrets. He would not lose the love of his life. The only time he made an exception was when she was pregnant with their son. Tom told Atlanna that he'd always respected her decision to remain silent about her past but now he had to know, with all the things she could do, what effect would that have on the baby? Would he be alright? Atlanna told her husband that she would explain in time and assured him that whatever else might happen the baby would be born healthy and strong.

"She was right and gave birth to a healthy boy they named Arthur.

"Tom provided for his wife and reared their son as best he could. He and Atlanna home schooled the boy and young Arthur helped his dad take care of the light house. They'd often go fishing to bring home dinner. In the evenings, he'd ask his father to tell him stories about his days in the Coast Guard; Arthur loved hearing his hero father's adventures. He _did_ make Chief Petty Officer and _did_ earn the Gold Lifesaving Medal and Good Conduct Medal. Arthur also grew up hearing stories of Aquaman, a Golden Age hero famous among all seamen and stories of Atlantis. His mother told those stories but she did his father grew worried.

Schwartz nodded. _Mort's original version brought back. I miss you Mort._

"Though Tom Curry trusted his wife completely, he knew that there was something… wrong. When Arthur was a baby, for example, he crawled off into the sea but instead of drowning he started swimming and playing games with the fishes. It got even stranger when, years later, a shark let the young boy pet him! For his part Tom nearly drowned himself trying to rescue Arthur the first time the boy swam off. He didn't know what was more impossible, the fact that the boy could breathe water or that Atlanna knew in advance that he could.

"Tom and Arthur learned the truth on Atlanna's death bed, finally giving into the weakness that'd plagued her for so long. Before she died, she told them her son that his real name is Orin and that she was the mermaid princess of Atlantis. Yes, she told her astonished husband, all the sailors' stories were true. There was indeed an underwater nation of merfolk descended from the survivors of the lost continent. The reason she had left was that rebels had staged a coup against the royal family. They had killed everyone sparing only Atlanna and her infant son, Orm; they knew that while Poseidon wouldn't avenge the members of the royal family they had slain in fair combat, outright murder was another matter. After beating Atlanna to within an inch of her life, the rebels made her swear to leave Atlantis forever and to make sure she did Orm was kept as a hostage. Poseidon's son would live and become king, albeit a puppet king for the coup leaders. She left and it was only happy chance that she washed up at Tom's doorstep.

"Tom Curry had long since suspected the stories he'd heard in the Coast Guard were true and that his wife was an Atlantean mermaid… but this!? As for little Arthur, his eyes went wide at the revelation; his mommy was a real princess and he had a brother! Atlanna stroked his cheek and said yes. When the time was right, she would find him if he was still alive and take his place as a prince of Atlantis. He was Poseidon's son and that made him rightful king to everything that lived beneath the wives. He was born to be King of the Seven Seas! At the same time, she asked him never to forget the surface. It was his father's world and that alone made it worth protecting. He swore that oath.

"She died soon after. They two cried for her and, per her instructions, laid her to rest on a coral outcropping named Mercy Reef. Arthur was about ten by this point.

"Tom Curry now knew his son was meant to be something special and he was determined to raise his son to meet his destiny. His training regiment took up ten hours out of each day as the former military man put his son through boot camp. While Arthur tried his best however, and sincerely wanted to be a big hero, he was slow learner and Tom was worried that Arthur was not working to his full potential. Remember, this is when Superboy's the only other hero so there's a lot to compare Arthur to.

"This is especially hard since, as much as Arthur wanted to become a superhero, he was scared of high diving and of swimming too deep. Tom was convinced that Arthur's complaints of not being able to do it were all psychological. He grew up on land and thought like a surface man and so was convinced he couldn't do it what he was asked. Tom knew that that couldn't stand; if his boy was going to be Poseidon's heir, he had to be the best he could be.

"The turning point came when Tom actually waited until Arthur was cleaning the windows at the top of the lighthouse to pretend to drown. Reacting on instinct, he leaped off the top of the lighthouse and dove into the ocean to save his father. Tom Curry was alright and explained that he did it all to impress upon his son that he was _indeed_ capable of feats biologically impossible for ordinary humans. When the future Aquaman learned the truth, he was at angry at his father, of course, but in time came to understand and appreciate why his father did what he did.

"Afterwards, Arthur's training began in earnest. Recalling that his son always seemed stronger after a swim, he constructed a specially designed salt water aquarium for the boy to sleep in at night. When the preteen Arthur woke up the next day he was able to curl thousand pound weights that adult male bodybuilders couldn't even squat. Not content to leave it there, Tom Curry ordered gym equipment people thought was meant as a gag to take his son's strength to the limit."

"What?" asked Kahn. "Aquaman has superstrength?"

"Of course he does," replied David. "Think of it. If he can move at all at the bottom of the ocean like we've had him do, he'd have to have superhuman strength just to push through those tons of water pressure. I've done research. We've seen Aquaman go to the Marians Trench and shrug it off like nothing. Well there its over 15,000 pounds per square inch and that is like concentrating all the weight of an elephant into an area the size of a stamp. Or in Aquaman's case, support over 2,000 tons on his body. That also means that to avoid being crushed he'd have to have limited invulnerability." David laughed. "I'm going to have fun showing young Arthur knocking himself out with a two-by-four as part of testing this!

"In terms of speed, Arthur soon finds himself swimming faster than a jet can fly. Again, think about it, if he can swim from Atlantis to any ocean in the world and be back the next day, he'd have to be that fast. His agility and endurance are likewise superhuman.

"It's worth saying that when he finally does go deep, goes off the continental shelf into the abyss for the first time, he also learns that he can 'see' in the dark. C'mon we might have Atlantis brightly lit for convenience sake but if Aquaman can go deep where the sun's light can't, he'd have to powers like that. When he came back up hours later he reassured his worried father and told him he had sonar!

"The inverse of course means that he gets weaker the longer he stays out of water." David scratched his head. "I don't know who it was that said that Aquaman dehydrates if he stays out of water for an hour but it's going out. If he's not just half human but grew up on land without trouble, that weakness can't work. The way I see it, if he's under water or if he's been out of water less than an hour, he's at full strength. More than that, he gets progressively weaker until he's no stronger than an ordinary man, though that he still strong enough and well trained enough to take care of himself.

"It wasn't just physical training that the prince worked on. He and his father checked out every book the town library had on the oceans and Atlantis. Arthur learned basic firefighting, search and rescue, first aid and CPR. Everything Tom picked up in the Coast Guard about saving lives and busting bad guys, he passed on to his son. The boy also studied all he could about marine life so that he would have a good knowledge of what he was dealing with and how to utilize his undersea friends when he needed their help. Dad even brought tanks full of fish so he could practice at home.

He sighed, "Yeah, people might laugh at Aquaman's power to talk to fish but again think about it. He can call in salmon and flounder and guppies. He can also call in great white sharks, blue whales, giant squids, sea serpents, sea monsters, Cthulu." Some people started at that. _Got'em!_ "He will call in the little guys for day to day stuff though. All Atlanteans are much stronger than ordinary humans but not only are members of the royal family stronger still, they're the only ones who can command sea life. It is Arthur's birthright as the Son of Poseidon.

"Poseidon the sea god, eh?" asked Kahn. "You got a lot of myth going on David. What about his trident? You said that he gave the Atlantean royal family the trident so is Aquaman going to get it eventually? And what will it do?"

"That's why you're our khan Mrs. Kahn," he remarked. "It is the actual original trident forged by the Cyclopes for use in the gods' war against the Titans. It was a favor for Zeus freeing them from the underworld. Poseidon planned to hold on to forever but when his son Triton forsook his godhood for the sake of mortals, he knew that he was no longer the most worthy; Triton was. In modern times, nobody outside of the royal family can even touch the trident without suffering immediate and painful death. Even then, nobody but the king can use its full power.

"As to that those powers are, if Aquaman—literally the Son, or at least descendant, of Poseidon—were to use its full power, he could use it to summon hurricanes, earthquakes, tidal waves, floods. Remember, Neptune was god of the seas but he was also the god of earthquakes and storms. It's not just a melee weapon in the hands of a true king.

"That, of course, is all in the future. Back in the past when Arthur Curry us still uncovering his powers, part of the prince's training involved learning by doing. By the time he reached his teens, he became a costumed adventurer with his father's backing. Check the timeline and that means, with the sole exception of Superboy, that Arthur was the only superhero in the world for years. A key difference was seen in how he had no secret identity. Hey Maggin, didn't you say that the JSA went into hiding for refusing to give up their secret identity." The man nodded. "Right. Well Aquaboy went the other direction by telling everyone from day one. 'I have nothing to hide.'

"He starts out small potatoes as Amnesty Bay's local hero. He's somewhere between a glorified lifeguard and a wannabe Coast Guard. The actual Coast Guard—and Navy and fishermen and all other sailors—think him a poor, and even disrespectful, substitute for the real Aquaman, AJ Perkins. Aquaboy is indeed right. Part of that lay in how he proved more willing to break the law than Superboy, the only other superhero at the time. One time, he broke into a Sea World style marine park to free abused dolphins. His dad paid bail but there were other instances of eco terrorism that had Tom Curry pulling his hair out.

"Years passed and Arthur went and bigger and bigger adventures. He was stopping smugglers, fighting sea monsters, rescuing whales and dolphins from whalers and thoughtless fishermen. He also went looking for the original Aquaman; hopefully Perkins could tell him something, anything about Atlantis. It's on one of these adventures that Tom Curry died. Arthur returned home to Amnesty Bay to find himself an orphan.

"By that time, everyone up and down the coast owed the young Aquaman one way or the other. 'He stopped those smugglers.' 'He saved me from drowning,' they said. They took care of everything and Tom given buried at sea with full honors. Arthur laid the body to rest at Mercy Reef and buried it next to his mother's. The townsfolk promised to look after the lighthouse and the cottage and a tearful Aquaman thanked them before swimming off one final time.

"There was nothing left for Arthur on land and his father's training was over; it was time to fulfill the vow he made his mother. He knew that most of the discoveries made by the great white hunters who tramped across the DCU in the 30s and 40s were empty ruins and not the real Atlantis. They meant nothing to him. Instead, he read every Atlantis legend he could find, interviewed Neptune Perkins, searched through Navy files, asked every whale and dolphin the questions he could. He swam across the oceans of the world, the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, the Bay of Bengal, always arriving one moment too late, always catching a glimpse of people like him.

"It took years but in the end he finally found Atlantis. To be more precise, it found him when mermen said that they'd been trailing him for months and if he was the son of Princess Atlanna. He said he was and proved it with a display of his power to control marine life. They asked him to come with them and soon they arrived at the capital city of Poseidonis. I plan on this being a double page spread to show just how magical this undersea fairy tale kingdom truly is; whales swimming between golden spires, forests of coral, mermaids and magic, sunken pirate ships, knights atop sea horses, and sea monsters terrifying the unwary.

"He was brought to the palace and the throne room of King Orm. They embraced as brothers and soon all Atlantis hailed the happy reunion. When Arthur, or Orin as Orm called him, asked whatever happened to the coup leaders that exiled their mother, Orm would only say that he dealt with them a long time ago. Arthur decided to leave it at that.

"At first, its happy times as the two brothers explore the undersea realms; this is the time when the earliest Aquaman comics happen. It takes place over the course of maybe two or three years and parts we'll retell whole cloth and portions might just be mentioned. We'll see him as a lone superhero whose best known as that water guy by land dwellers. We'll see him find and take in Aqualad and even meet Mera in time for a first kiss. On the side we'll mention his joining the Justice League and letting Garth join the Teen Titans. He also meets Vulko for the first time who teaches him Atlantean history, royal protocol, etc. The only difference is that here it will be revealed that he, off camera, repeatedly tangled with ugly Lovecraft style fishmen in his early days.

"Looking back, Aquaman realized that these were some of the happiest times in his life. There were challenges, but nobody ever died and there was never any doubt. He never had to question anything; there was no gray and good always won. It was too good to last and it all went to the Devil when he and Orm talked about Arthur's childhood.

"Orin admitted that growing up, that he would often cry at the thought of both his mother and his baby brother trapped on land. He vowed as boys will do to kill the men who had exiled them and then lead a rescue party to save them. Arthur assured him that it wasn't all bad. He had a happy childhood and a good father. Orm was confused by that. Their father died before he was born; how could Orin remember him?

"Arthur explained that they are half brothers. Atlanna didn't leave Atlantis pregnant with him; she married a surface man and he was the result. Though he hid it, Orm was horrified by the thought that his brother's a 'half breed.' Forget that it was a commoner, their mother slept with a… a… argh! Arthur led his brother to Mercy Reef where he had buried their mother next to his father and there they shared a moment of silence. Later, when Arthur wasn't there to see, Orm returned and desecrated the tomb in a rage.

"Orm hated—correction, _hates_—the surface world with every fiber of his being. Part of it was justified, resulting from pollution, nuclear tests, and other things. (Whales and dolphins are sacred to Poseidon so you can guess where that leads.) The other part derived from a combination of racial prejudice and power lust. Like the kings before he wanted to take back the land from the scum that infest it and return it to its proper owners. He knew that many of his people hate the land men as much as does, some even more, and would gladly fight a war of genocide against the land men. Kill the evil humans? No, kill _all_ the humans! He knew however that it wouldn't be so easy; human technology had advanced considerably since the Bronze Age. He'd have to call upon Poseidon's favor if were to win.

"He repeatedly sought the sea god's sanction and in the end, he finally did see Poseidon in a vision. Orm was overjoyed to see the face of his god, to see the father from whom he derived his divine right. Surely the sea god would reward his most faithful follower, right? Instead he revealed himself to say that the plan was folly; the sea belonged to Atlantis and the land to the land men. The earth shaker would not grant any of his power to his foolish son so that that son could wage war against the surface world. If it was wrong for him to sink Atlantis even when they were allied with his enemies how much more wrong would it be for him to kill innocent people who'd done Atlantis no (deliberate) harm? Poseidon in fact said that not only would not aid him, he would see to it that none of the sea gods would aid him.

"There is no quicker path to hate than true love betrayed. True, despite all their posturing the Olympian gods are as fallible as any mortal. Still, Orm's next idea bordered on the insane. If he and Poseidon argued that can only mean that Poseidon was wrong and he was right. He's as egotistical as any god. Knowing that he lacked the sheer power of one, however, Orm went to the deepest trench of the ocean, a black abyss populated only by monsters. It's only by Poseidon's Trident that he carried with him that he was not torn to pieces by the… things there.

"Remember how I said that he Aquaman had been fighting Lovecraft style fishmen? This is where the grotesques come from; they are called the Trench. They'd been holding back in their fights against Aquaman for fear of Poseidon but on their home turf it's another matter. When they see Orm, they tried to kill and let him pass only when he offered blood sacrifice: the flesh of an Atlantean infant. When the chance to reclaim Atlantis' glory is at hand, what's the life of one whoreson left to die of exposure anyways? The ends justify the means don't they?

"Atlantis has a long history of acknowledging and respecting all religions even if Poseidonism is supreme; the worshipers of The Nameless Ones are the sole exception. The Trench are just barely on the right side of sentience and are all insane by human standards. They along with other sea-folk who worship the Nameless Ones have committed untold obscenities in the service of their unclean gods."

David stopped when he saw a smirk on Denny O'Neil's face. "Yeah," muttered the aqua-scribe, "we'll be seeing 'Shadow over Innsmouth.'

"Some outsiders have tried to approach the depraved cult of freaks and murderers critically and appeal to the moderates. Alas, those moderates literally don't exist and anyone who exposes himself to the Nameless Ones inevitably goes mad. It is said that those part fish, part octopus, part… _thing_ monstrosities are so terrible and deformed that just looking at one will drive a mortal insane. Orm found that out the hard way.

"He stood at the bottom of the abyss, a cold pitiless realm without light. Before him, carved into the trench walls were thousand foot high gates and carved onto the gates was a crude mix of obscenities and the vilest blasphemies. Good. Orm was ready to blaspheme against Poseidon for daring to challenge him. He called upon the magics and opened the gates and then opened his mind to the beast within.

"While all this was happening, Arthur and Aqualad were on routine patrol. They were in fact turning over some smugglers to the local coast guard either in the Pacific or the Indian Ocean when they heard the news on the radio. The Atlantic coasts of the Americas, Europe and Asia were all being battered by level 5 hurricanes, megatsunamis, and 10.0 earthquakes all at once. What's worse is that the epicenter is Atlantis. Arthur can't believe it; Orm's initiated Operation Unthinkable! And then he heard reports of monsters…

"Orm knew that his brother's Justice League friends would be the biggest threat and came prepared. He knew their first priority would be saving lives so he used Poseidon's trident to call up a blitzkrieg of natural disasters. The earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes would not only cripple the land kingdoms but leave their champions off guard for the next phase. Ordinarily the Atlanteans could never hold or even take surface territory; they learned in the campaigns of old that they'd dehydrate under the sun. With Orm summoning torrential rains, however, not only could they strike but so could the armies of fishmen he had loosed.

"Metropolis and the other coastal cities were drowning and the newly formed JLA was everywhere at once trying to save lives. Mera's power to control water was especially helpful in the rescue efforts, though far from enough. Aquaman warned his friends, everyone, of what was happening but it was too little, too late.

"When Ocean Master finally launched the attack, his army was ready for the League's two strongest members. The Atlanteans had been in contact with Themyscira for centuries and had a whole company of their strongest special ops men waiting for her. In their preparation, they learned to their delight that Superman was weak against magic; Orm thus sent a team of Atlantean battle wizards to neutralize him.

"Each Atlantean soldier not only had the strength of ten, twenty, or even a hundred men, but each one was armed with laser rifles and backed by some of the finest battle magicians in the world. Gigantic beasts of war came out of the storm lashed seas to destroy everything in sight. And of course, the Trench swarmed the land, first out of the water, to feed. Orm mused that he'd have to have something ready for them to devour once they the fight was over. It took all his strength to keep them from turning to killing and eating the Atlanteans next to them.

"The fact that Ocean Master would bring the Trench, despite the fact that they would inevitably turn on him and kill Atlanteans the instant he ran out of human flesh to feed them, showed that something was wrong. Aquaman approached his brother and tried to talk to him; when that failed he decided to beat sense into him. Through the fight and through the story we've been seeing Orm growing increasingly irrational and erratic; by the end he's a gibbering lunatic. More by Orm's insanity than anything else, Aquaman finally won their battle and tore the trident from his brother's arms. He then roared 'hear me now Atlantis, I am your king!' He immediately stopped the natural disasters and called off the attack but he quickly learned that it was a pyrrhic victory. Writhing in epileptic seizures and foaming at the mouth, Ocean 'master' confirmed his brother's worst nightmares when he cackled over and over that Ichthultu was coming!"

"What?" interrupted a shocked O'Neil. "Did you just say…"

"Yes, Ichthultu," responded David. "I don't know how much of Lovecraft's work is in public domain and besides, I don't want his ghost to be looking over my shoulder. Regardless, I plan on the last issue ending with the monster coming out from the water and when the next issue opens, Joker curls up into a ball over at Arkham Asylum whimpering that it's too much.

Denny O'Neil smiled at that last part. _Guess Cthulu's insanity is just too much for __Arkham__!_

"When the skyscraper sized Ichthultu, 'a monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind' comes ashore some people go insane at the sheer horror of it though most people are 'just' traumatized for life.

"And before a certain Lovecraft fan start piling on me that the reaction should be even worse, remember, this is the DCU! They're kinda of jaded about these things.

"But back to the story.

"The Trench stopped whatever it was they were doing and walked up in worship. Ichthultu just trampled the fishmen like ants without ever even noticing they were there. All land dwellers left in the area panic and ran as did the Atlanteans who the monster crushed beneath its heels. Everyone ran except for Aquaman.

"It's not that Arthur Curry planned on defeating the monster; he took it for granted that he couldn't. He knew he was weak, as weak as his own god is strong. He raised up his trident and called on Father Neptune. With that a water giant in the form of a bearded crowned merman forms around Aquaman. Most people don't remember what happened next. Ichtultu was just so revolting to human eyes that ordinary people had to repress the memory of him just to survive. For his part, King Orin blacked out his mind and let Father Neptune take his flesh.

"With his sire's power, the Son of Poseidon battled, living storm lashed seas in humanoid form against the abomination! Whole islands were destroyed and earthquakes shook the eastern seaboard as the gods made war. He staggered when Father Neptune poleaxed him right between the octopus eyes with the power of million h-bombs! Ichultu was not so easily defeated as erased from existence the lightning bolts and hurricanes the sea god sent against him and walked forwards. The only reason everything on both sides of the Atlantic wasn't destroyed was the creation of a milehigh wall made of freeze breath frozen ice wall, a power ring made green construct, and all the power of the gods of Olympus.

"For a time, it seemed as if neither Poseidon nor Icthultu could be the winner but the Atlanteans there gave Poseidon their strength. Even below in Poseidonis and Tritonis and beyond, his people saw in visions and gave him their strength as well. On Paradise Island, the Amazons at their temples saw the statues of the sea god weep blood and bent their knees. The land men did not worship the sea god nor did they even know what was happening but they too cried out to their protector. The monster, on the other hand, had imbued the few of its 'worshippers' it had not turned into drooling idiots not with a spirit of reverence but with one of fear.

"Then, with a final blow from a trident forged for a war between gods, the earth shaker won and when and Ichthultu lay prostrate. Poseidon raised his trident above the monster and it disappeared, teleported away to its crypt. There is nothing, _nothing_, beneath the waves that does not kneel before the god of the seas. The water giant then dissipated and left Aquaman in its wake.

"With that, the Atlanteans knew beyond any doubt that he was the one true king, ruling by divine right forever. As for the few surviving Trench, they had just seen Ichthultu defeated by Poseidon and turned to face the god's descendant and vicar. For several uncomfortable moments they just stared at him; Aquaman knew he had new subjects. His commands were simple. Go home. They obeyed.

"The battle was over. The first thing Aquaman did was use his trident's power to heal Orm of his madness. He woke up from the nightmare and painfully said that the last thing he could remember was standing before Icthultu's crypt. When he looked around to see the destruction his rampage cause, he was horrified. He allied with the Trench?! He released a monster that killed hundreds of Atlanteans?! Ocean Master began crying; he never meant it to happen it like that…

"Nevertheless it had and for that there could only be one punishment. Aquaman held the trident to his head, already bowed in prayer. 'Yes Father Neptune,' he said. The King of Atlantis looked at his brother and said that Poseidon declared him disowned. No longer would Orm hold the sacred trident. No longer would he command the beasts of the sea. Now and forever, would he be an outcast and an exile. Should he ever even try to return he would die.

"Orm was horrified and ran to the surf, refusing to believe it was true. The fool nearly drowned when he tried to inhale a lungful of water. It was the worst punishment he could possibly imagine. He was not only exiled amongst the landmen, now he was now one of them. The fact that he, having lost the crown and with it diplomatic immunity, was taken away like a common criminal was merely icing on the cake. On that day, Aquaman lost a brother and gained an enemy.

"All of that was in the future, however. For the moment, there was hope and the promise of a better future. Atlantis issued a full apology and paid reparations for the damages caused. It turned over all war criminals to face justice of surface world courts and agreed to destroy all its weapons. For having served a king so evil as to call up Ichthultu… most Atlanteans were just too ashamed to do anything else. It was a grim reminder of how their bigotry nearly cost them everything. The surface world, familiar with Aquaman's heroics and how he had helped to save the world, time and again, with the League decided to give the Atleanteans a chance. In World War II, the Italians were left alone to rebuild their country after they ousted Mussolini, right?

"For Aquaman, he had come home. Things weren't easy but then he knew that life wasn't about being easy. It didn't even matter if it wasn't easy. Looking at Mera and Garth and Vulko and everyone else, he knew that it doesn't matter how much life throws at you if you have someone next to you to throw it right back. With them looking on, he is crowned king. He has met his destiny and fulfilled the vows made to his mother and father; he _will_ make Atlantis great again and forge everlasting peace between two worlds. He knows he can for he is the living proof that land and sea can embrace.

"It closes with a shot of Aquaman and his beloved Mera marrying each other in Poseidon's sight."

**Author's Notes: Hi everyone! Today I thought to share a little behind the scenes stuff. Like I said I first conceived this several years ago and while the basic structure remains the same, the original nine or so chapters have since grown considerably! Look below and compare it to the battle between Aquaman and Icthultu**

**_"It might climax with Orm knowing he is defeated and releasing some great sea monster. It kills him—though of course it really doesn't since he appears in later stories—but he doesn't care; if he can't rule the world, then no one will! Using the divine power of his ancestor, Aquaman raises up Poseidon's trident and strikes down the beast. Atop a mile high tsunami that would have drowned New York and all the other coastal cities but has frizen [sic] in place like a wall of water, Aquaman says "I am Artorious Rex, Lord of Atlantis and King of Seas. I am Artori9ous [sic] Rex, Son of Poseidon and champion of the waters. I am Artorious Rex and I seek congress with all the kings of the Earth." Thus Atlantis is at last reunited with the surface world._**

**It takes inspiration from _The Abyss_ and I would have liked to use it. The world knows nothing of Atlantis when all of a sudden aqua-somebody comes from nowhere and reveals Atlantis to the world by stopping a tsunami. A major part of the story, however, went on to be Arthur having had a minor career as a young hero before becoming Aquaman.**

**If you have any question about "Ichthultu" or anything else, please drop a line. But now to the lettercol.**

**Sir Thames: Thank you for your kind words, as always. :-D**

**Wolvbm: Thanks! In my research, I never heard that the Golden Age Aquaman joined the JSA. As revealed decades later in Roy Thomas' _All Star Squadron_, he did however join the Squadron, a confederacy of all World War II era heroes. As for Peter David... well I chose him for how he rebooted Aquaman for the 90s. I respect David. His real _Atlantis Chronicles_ are fine storytelling and his regular issues were great. However, while his origin for Aquaman was good and set him apart from other heroes, I just like his classic/new origin more. Having him do it this way is just a nice ****bit of symmetry. I do hope you can excuse artistic license! -_-;**

**Oh... and I do hope you'll like this chapter. ;-)**

**Lord Ultimas: You have my sympathy for Wally and with how Manhunhter was coming up, I just wanted to ask, would you care to serve as editor for that chapter? (When it finally does come!)**

**As for Golden Age Aquaman, I'm not surprised. He was a relatively minor character who DC never even bothered to give a name. He was just a superhero who could swam, no Atlantis, no kingship, nothing. While that could have worked a guy whose biggest challenge is capturing Pirate #37 is much harder to make work than an Atlantean king who protects his undersea world from gods and monsters. It was only until the Silver Age that the Aquaman we recognize appeared.**

**That's all for now everyone. There are still unresolved questions. What about Garth and Mera for that matter? What will we see about that that dang hook hand? Next time, I hope to show you an chapter that is utterly... _outrageous!_**


	24. Ch 17: Outrageous!

**Chapter Seventeen: Outrageous!**

**Place: Offices of DC Comics, New York City**

**Year: 1986**

"One of the reasons I quit writing Hulk over at Marvel," said David, "was the promise that I could write Aquaman. If he can take care of 75% of the world by himself when Superman needs the rest of the League to only take care of 25% that tells you something. Back in the early 60s he was DC's big leagues and I knew that if I could write him I could make him big leagues again.

"Like I said the origin is modified but the Silver Age it mostly the same from there on. Aquaman was still a Justice Leaguer and he still had a son, Arthur Junior, by his wife Mera. Garth, for his part was still with the Teen Titans. Arthur still fought Black Manta, and Ocean Master was still causing trouble, looking all the time for a way to breathe water. Though here," David mused, "it was because he wanted to do it again and before he was landsman jealous of his half brother's powers.

"The only major difference here is when Aquaman is eventually asked to give up the throne for spending too much time as a superhero. That happened only a few years ago so it's staying the same though now, he was never actually voted out of office ruling as he does by divine right and by blood in this new continuity instead of being voted in. In other times, he'd be asked to step down to let another member of the royal family take the crown but since he's the only surviving member of the Atlantean royal family—Orm's been disowned—he _is_ king, now and perhaps forever. So when he leaves the palace and moves his family into the Aquacave he doesn't abdicate and make Vulko king. He renounces all power and makes Vulko regent with all the powers of king until Arthur Junior is of age."

David shook his head and sighed. "We of course know that will never happen. Why'd you do it Michilinie?"

David Michilinie raised an eyebrow. "You mean this?" He pulled out _Aquaman_ #62 where, on the cover, a solemn Arthur placed his hand atop a gravestone. Behind him, tears running down her face as she trembled in rage, Mera was barely able to keep herself from attacking him. She screamed "Our son is dead Aquaman and its all your fault!"

"Of course, what else?!" demanded the other David.

Michilinie looked away furtively, hemming and hawing before answering. "Well… I just thought that that was what Paul Levitz was building up to when I took over the writing for the series." He shrugged his shoulders. "I thought it was going there and I wanted to give Aquaman some pathos. You know, he gave up the chance to save Junior in order to get Black Manta." A remorseful look came across the man's face. "I mean the point is that thought Junior was already dead.

"And that dear Kahn," said Peter David as he turned to his publisher, "_is_ the point."

"What do you mean David?" asked Kahn.

The new writer smiled conspiratorially. "I plan on… sort of an _identity crisis_ for Aquaman, for all the heroes in fact. Part of having a secret identity is that your enemies won't know who your loved ones are and will never be able to hurt them. One thing that didn't work about Michilinie's story as that it wasn't mentioned outside of the aqua-books. I plan on showing that when AJ was murdered that the League tore up the DCU looking for Manta before Aquaman finally cornered him.

"As to where this will go from here, yes Mera and Aquaman have moved in to New Venice and are living as a relatively normal couple in a sunken American city. The reason that Aquaman has been able to control himself is that he hasn't. The reason he lost the throne was that he was a superhero long before becoming king and didn't put his royal duties first, right? He's hanging on by burying himself in his work. The more criminals her catches, the more lives he saves, the less time he has to think about the one life he was unable to save.

"His becoming a workaholic alienates his wife. He's prompt and remembers all their anniversaries but he's always so… cold. As time passes, he stops taking care of his appearance; his hair grows long and he grows a beard. He walks around bare-chested. He slowly becomes sterner and even cruel. In the end Mera leaves and is even confined to an insane asylum. The pain of losing AJ was too much; she couldn't survive the loss of her husband too.

"Part of all this is his decision that he must become king. Like I said, here, he can't abdicate as he's Poseidon's only surviving heir but he can give his power to a prime minister. For a long time by that point, the Prime Minister was Vulko but after X attack leaves Atlantis in ruins, it's Aquaman who goes to the rescue. He helps the survivors, takes charge, and tells everyone what to do. Any characters who'd been tagging along wonder why is it that the Atlanteans act as if he'd never stopped being their king. The others say it's because he never had stopped being their king. There is no ceremony to mark his return to power because none is needed. Yes, Vulko continues his day-to-day work but King Arthur is back

"Aquaman is king in deed as well as in name for now he knows where his priorities must lie. He spent his early life as a superhero and thought to be both during his kingship. Both suffered because of it. He's made his choice now, however; he is king of Atlantis first and a super hero second. I plan on showing that in my second year of my run when Aquaman launches a campaign against all whalers."

Kahn and Schwartz traded looks even as Miller face palmed.

David sighed. "Listen up Mr. Right Wing, let's just suspend disbelief for the story, OK."

"Whatever," Miller muttered.

"Now, I'd been thinking of having Aquaman be raised by dolphins. We're sticking to old origins but that doesn't mean I can't give that origin to Garth/Aqualad. Dolphin the superheroine was also raised by the animals. When, let's say, Garth's or Dolphin's mother, Porm, is killed by a common fisherman, Garth (or Dolphin) goes insane with anger and tries to take revenge. When Aquaman confronts him, he refuses to listen. 'He murdered my mother,' he screams, 'how can you possibly understand?!'

"With that Garth realizes his mistakes and tries to apologize." David snorted. "Little creep dared to whine about the loss of his relationship when Aquaman fought him to save Arthur Junior! He tries to apologize, saying that he didn't mean to dredge up Arthur's old memories… still he won't stop. He's surprised when Arthur doesn't hit him. He's even more surprised when he says, 'I'm on your side for this one minnow.'

"Aquaman explains that he understands perfectly but that there's a difference. He was able to claim a measure of justice for AJ in that since that day no nation on land or in the sea will give Manta sanctuary. Compare that to the whalers who've killed countless cetaceans… Whalers, like the men who killed Garth's dolphin mother are, by Atlantean law, mass murderers and yet he's never even tried to stop them. If he's going to be King of Atlantis, he'll have to stop appeasing landsmen and bring the criminals to justice… and that includes Porm's killer.

"We've already established that he sympathizes with whales and would like nothing more than jailing the men who would hunt them. They _are_ relatively intelligent; in one of our stories, at least, a mother whale beached herself in grief after her son died. Aquaman knew because she told him. Now he decides to finally do what he should have done a long time ago.

"After the UN asks the League to intervene, they catch him sinking a whaling ship and seemingly about to kill the crew. They had mostly given up hope of being rescued from sea horse riding mermen when Superman arrives. Among those cheering for their savior is the man who killed Porm.

"The Man of Steel and his League have caught Aquaman red handed, red from the blood of slaughtered whales seeping into the sea from the ruined ship. Wonder Woman, who has the power to speak with animals, gasps. Superman appeals to Arthur, saying that they've known each other since they were kids. Garth says that among the whalers is the man who killed his dolphin mother; he and Aquaman will have justice! Kal-El, who cherishes all life, looks at the mutilated bodies of innocent animals—of people, as they are sentient. He says that he sincerely sympathizes and wants to help him stop the cetacean holocaust but that 'this is not the way to do it! We don't have the power to do this.'

"Aquaman agrees to everyone's surprise. 'You're right Kal,' he says, 'you and the other Leaguers don't have the power to do this… but I do.' He looks at Superman and says, 'Let me ask you something. You have the power to change the world and end everyone's problems in an instant but you don't.' When Superman asks why he should answer, Arthur offers to let himself be bound in Diana's lasso as proof of sincerity. Not impressed by Arthur's grandiose posturing, Superman takes the bait and asks to be bound himself and says what he'd say with or without a lasso: it's not his place to decide morality and force people to be good.

"Aquaman nods. 'Yeah, you're a private citizen with no legal responsibilities to be the big hero. If you save lives or capture criminals, you're not trying to take the place of firefighters or policemen, you're just trying to help.' Superman nods. 'Isn't that also part of the reason you don't kill? An executioner might kill dozens of people but I've never seen you free criminals from death row. I mean, you have the _moral_ responsibility to help people with your power but not the _legal_ responsibility and thus lack the legal power to kill at will, right?' Again, Superman agrees that all that that is true and then it all dawns on where Arthur is taking this…

"Aquaman then smirks." And so did Peter David. "He says, 'Since I am head of state for all the confederated kingdoms and principalities of Atlantis and am the head of government for Poseidonis and my claiming these beasts as citizens is recognized by all surface nations, do you not then recognize that should these men kill _my_ citizens in _my_ kingdom I have the legal responsibility to protect these whales and these dolphins and that I, by your own admission, have the legal power to kill these men?'

"Everyone, Porm's killer most of all, looks at Superman and, having let himself be bound by the lasso, can do nothing but tell the truth. Yes, in that he's a king, Arthur does have that power and he, Kal, has no power to stop him. Powerless to do anything else Superman asks of the killer will be tried in a court of law and Aquaman nods. He says, 'At least let us take the crew.'

"Aquaman nods. 'Fine, then. Take the crew but their captain, the harpooners, and Porm's killer come with me.'

"With how Porm had been so well known as Prince Garth's mother and was the wisest and most kind of Father Neptune's dolphin children, her killer's trial takes center stage. He escapes the death penalty only on grounds that he didn't know his victims were sentient."

Publisher and all around boss Jenette Kahn saw the sour look on Miller's face. _Now I know why he's silent. He knows he'd shoot his mouth off_. "That's… interesting Peter but don't you think that might be a little distasteful. I mean you get to live your fantasies but whales will still be getting killed off in the real world."

David shook his head. "Nah, it'll be ok. Firstly, I plan to showing that whalers are just ordinary guys trying to do their jobs. Aquaman and Tempest—Aqualad's new name—will come off as a bullies for attacking otherwise innocent people." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I thought of having Porm's killer be just another supervillain but that would be too easy. Instead, he's just an ordinary guy; he's divorced, sees his kid every other weekend, he's trying to quit smoking, he's a third generation fisherman. When he gets prison time in an Atlantean jail cell, all he can do is whisper what I do?

"As for the other side, Arthur won't be able to save everyone and once I do that story, I plan on putting it in the background. Neither it nor Aquaman's efforts to educate people will be in the main thrust of the story. It's enough to know that it's happening for our guy's character development."

He saw the boss mull it over in her head before ultimately nodding. "Ok. We'll see how it goes."

David smiled. "Back to the main story then and _that_ is Aquaman's kingship taking center stage. In the wake of all that will have happened, he's decided to be a king first and a superhero second. In terms of day to day politicking, however, he takes a page from surface world monarchies and makes Vulko his Prime Minister. Arthur's a great king but Vulko is more qualified to deal with the red tape.

"For example, it's Vulko that makes Arthur's playbook in how to deal with trespassing landsmen. For example, all surface men agree on the territorial limits of 12 miles from shore out to sea, right? After all, land dwellers argue, they can't breathe water and thus can't live establish any permanent settlements. The sea is therefore neutral territory.

"Vulko doesn't dispute it. In fact, he agrees with it… because by that logic if somebody makes _or has made_ permanent settlements in the ocean that portion of the ocean would by that same law belong to them, right?" David smirked at that. "Vulko gives lawyers nightmare for years with that. Arthur's too smart to abuse that power of course, he allows fishing and travel. But anyone who endangers Atlantean lives, weather humanoid or other will be dealt with harshly.

"It won't just be politicking, though. We'll see him on adventures exploring the ocean, meeting the oceanic gods and monsters of various mythologies. Heck, years worth of stories might take place without ever coming up for air! I plan on a story where he will embark on a quest to unite all the lost cities of Atlantis, Tier Na Noge, Mu, Lemuria, and Hy Basil. Not only will we knit together all the previous underwater races, we will see Aquman become king of them all."

Kahn saw people nod but she was nonplussed. "Yes, I can just imagine Aquaman making poses and shouting 'outrageous!' in between speeches. But Pete unless there's some character development you know that all Aquaman's adventuring will get boring. Just saving the whole entire universe for the umpteenth time…"

"Don't worry about it boss. I plan on as much character development as anything else."

He pursed his lips. "I originally planned to save this for later but why not? The major turning point in all this will be an adventure where Aquaman saves an Atlantean boy from certain death. As to who the villain is, if there is one, it isn't important right now. What matters is that both Aquaman and the boy are chained to some Rube-Goldberg machine death trap and are being lowering into an underwater lava pit. The boy, who's been raised from birth with stories of the noble Aquaman who could do no wrong and would always be there, cries out for his king to save him. Arthur struggles mightily but it's no good."

Michilinie was on the edge of his seat. "How will Aquaman get out?"

David shook his head as Aqua-baby's true killer. "He won't. Our guy sees a child, a child who'd be the same age Arthur Junior would be if he hadn't died. Aquaman freaks out and goes back to that day he failed to save his son. He's bound by one hand to a length of chain and uses all his strength to try to break it. That fails! He pulls out a knife and desperately tries hacking at the chains but it's no use! He looks at his son and then he looks at his hand…"

"He can't let AJ die all over again so he raises a knife to do what must be done. He can't let it happen again, never again! Michilinie looked away. He wasn't the only one who flinched at the new writer's words.

"The next scene, we see Aquaman staggering back to friendly waters carrying the little boy in one arm. He makes his way to the nearest doctor, asking for help for the boy… and himself. The doctor is shocked to see his hand ends in a bloody stump. Aquaman cut off his own hand to save the boy, a boy whom he owned no loyalty and had never even met beforehand. He did it for no other reason than sheer goodness."

For a short time, everyone was quiet. It was Kahn who broke the silence. "David, I though you said piranha would eat Aquaman's hand." She saw the looks on people's faces and cleared her throat. "We talked earlier and gave me a sneak peek."

_Fish attacking Aquaman?_ thought Denny O'Neil "That's stupid, he can talk to fish! All he'd have to do is say piranha stop eating my hand!"

David shrugged. "That really would be the point I was trying to make, that he talks to fish instead of controlling them and if they don't feel like listening to him too bad. Giving Aquaman such an epic fail might make for great comedy but done seriously it just makes him look rather useless. He is going to lose his hand, but he's not going to lose it so dumbly." A mollified O'Niel nodded. "Afterwards, we'll see a bearded, bare chested Aquaman gets a cybernetic hook that will double as a weapon. I think it'll make a nice image!"

It did and he wound up carrying that hook for the rest of the 90s.

"Now I already said that Aquaman and Mera had separated. She went insane and was sent to the madhouse; they never actually divorced though. She eventually gets better though in a story that finds her and Arthur trapped in another dimension where their son never died. The other AJ is now a young boy who wears a blue camouflage suit and idolizes his parents. He's a good boy who trains to be a good prince and, one day, to be a good man. Mera and Arthur are happily married and they have children on the way. It's a picture of family bliss.

"The other Aquaman, you see, chose not to go after Black Manta when he had the chance and instead took his son back to Atlantis hoping beyond hope that AJ could be saved. And indeed, though the baby was down to his last scrap of life and though it was touch and go for months, AJ ultimately did survive and make a full recovery. Here Arthur now deliberately tries to be a moral and upstanding citizen in hopes of giving his son a father whom he could be proud of. The other Mera is fine, healthy, happy, and very pregnant.

"After the inevitable misunderstandings between our Aquaman and his counterpart, our guy gets some time alone with his 'son.' The other AJ is shocked at the idea that his father would care more about getting revenge than saving him. Barely able to look at AJ after hearing those words, Aquaman—in all his bearded, hook shaking manliness—begins to cry. With that, all the macho façade he'd been building up to falls apart and all can do is say over and over that he's sorry.

"AJ hugs his 'father' and forgives him for everything. AJ looks at our Aquaman's hook hand and asks how many people have died by it and he's told too many. The boy tells his father's doppelganger that killing people isn't power. Anyone can do that. To give live, to save life that's real power, a power he once had, he still has. Aquaman is still in there, still alive, still sleeping, buried underneath all the angst, still waiting to come out and make the world a better place.

"As for Mera, part of the reason she went crazy in the first place was her hatred for Arthur, how he abandoned Junior to get revenge on Manta. On seeing all this, however, seeing at least one version of her son not only still alive but forgiving his father for what he had done, all that hatred melts away.

"She is quiet and utterly vulnerable at this moment. After seeing her husband's contrition for leaving his son in favor of vengeance, that 'son' turns around to face her. He tells her, 'Mom I don't want you to cry forever and I don't want you to stay mad at dad. If even I can forgive him, can't you forgive him too?'

"She then throws her arms around AJ and holds him tightly, not daring to let him go. Those are strong words that Mera needed to hear. She knows that she'll always miss her son but know she also knows that he'll always be with her as long as she remembers his love. With that, with her heart thus mended, she begins to heal and she returns to regular DC Universe.

"She and Arthur, who are still technically married, begin to repair their relationship. It's a hard road and one they would never have wished on anyone, but they have faced the most awful test any couple could have faced and they have made it. They court again, they fall in love again and so they learn 'that the evil eye can wither… that the heart's blessing can heal… and that love overcomes all odds.'"

Not a few writers there were drying some tears when David said that and not a few fans had to dry theirs when David wrote that last story in 1998.

The truth of it was established in _Our Worlds at War_, 2001's mega crossover. It saw the long awaited return of the Anti-Monitor who once again sought to destroy the universe and who this time was dealt a decisive blow by the Superman who failed to defeat him before in the Crisis. There were terrible casualties, however, and one of them was Atlantis. Anti-Monitor's plan involved hollowing out Earth and Poseidonis was ground zero for one of the probes. Aquaman took point and fought valiantly against the Anti-Monitor's forces there but the city was seemingly destroyed in a tremendous explosion. In its place was simply a huge rift in the water of the ocean.

It was eventually revealed that the Atlanteans were still alive; Aquaman had sent his people into the distant past as part of a last resort failsafe if the unthinkable should happen. When he was "killed," a spell he'd implanted in his trident activated and teleported them all to a time when Atlantis was still above the waves and when the Titans still ruled the world. It was unfortunately the last days when Zeus and his fellow Olympians made war against the Titans to take the world for themselves.

By then, it was taken for granted that the two groups of Atlanteans would fight and one would betray the other, especially with how grim superhero comics had become. That is in fact what happened the pre-flood Atlanteans found their descendants and made slaves of them. Those water breathing… freaks were not only on Olympus side, their leader was a blood relative to Poseidon!

Thought to be spies or at least sympathizers, the modern Atlanteans were placed in chains and made to suffer terrible humiliations but Aquaman ordered his people not to resist. He even refused the chance to escape when a few people who'd escaped earlier came back for their dehydrated countrymen. Arthur reasoned that even if they did escape them that they'd have nowhere to go. True he theoretically could lead an attack, steal back his trident, and use its power to get back home, but even aside from potential damage to the time stream, he wouldn't take force what he could gain by reason.

Instead, he used his telepathy to reach the better angels on his ancestors' nature. He showed them that, whatever he was, he and his modern Atlanteans were not there as enemies. He even warned them of the coming cataclysm as a token of good faith, though he also said that it could be inevitable. It was not a moment too soon because soon Poseidon came to destroy Atlantis and the old Atlanteans gave Aquaman back his trident so that he could save them from the sea god.

Arthur fought the earthshaker to a draw, mostly because Poseidon had rendered his Trident unable to harm any descendants he might have. (The reverse however was not true as Aquaman used his era's Trident to strike several blows against his ancestor.) The fact that "Orin" could not be harmed by his Trident forced the Earthshaker to declare a truce. Not only that but the fact that he could use the same Trident and not die meant that, regardless of being Atlantean and sharing the same name as the Atlantean King, Orin was his legitimate heir.

Throwing all caution to the winds, Arthur knelt to his forefather, to his god, and told him of the future that was to come. He warned the Earthshaker that were he ever to strike down Atlantis, he would strike down the only people who in time could worship him. Poseidon used his magic and saw that it was true.

The old Atlanteans saw for themselves the truth in Aquaman's words when the sea god—a more caring father than his brother Zeus— threw down his weapons and swore on the River Styx not to attack Atlantis for X many years. It was perhaps just delaying the inevitable but the King Orin of the past knew his people would have time to prepare for the worst. Maybe the future could be changed. He was also buoyed by the knowledge that even if it couldn't be, that his children and his children's children would survive.

The old Atlanteans asked Arthur to forgive their foolishness on seeing all this and asked for the chance to make reparations. King Arthur accepted their apology but said that the only reparations he sought was help for going home. The old Atlanteans gladly offered it.

Arthur and his people were sent back to the future where the hero king made contact with both world governments and the Justice league. The Tritonians, who had made their city the temporary capital after Poseidonis' disappearance, rushed to help the refugees when that happened. Soon enough the old capital was reestablished and Atlantis began the long, if now hopeful, process of rebuilding. There was only one who grew worried.

Aquaman swam to the temple of Poseidon and there knelt before the god's idol and asked forgiveness for having raised his hand against him while in the past. The Earthshaker appeared and said that if anything he should thank him. "Long ago," he said, "I asked forgiveness from the Atlanteans for having sunk their country beneath the waves and as proof, I took them under my protection and blessed the royal house. The reason I asked forgiveness was that even though I knew that no one, god or man, can defy the Moirai—the Fates—one need not embrace them. If I was able to spare anybody from the deluge with the reprieve it was because of what you showed me. Thank you Aquaman."

Aquaman was not, however, thankful in return. Soon after, he had to leave in a quest imparted on him Poseidon; Princess Diana was his traveling companion. (By that it was the mid 2000s and the Aquaman and Wonder Woman titles had begun to overlap considerably due to the shared focus on Greek myth.) They had to find X ancient relic lest its power be used by Y villain to take over the world.

By itself, it wouldn't have been anything special; it was a standard plot, the kind that had been used a hundred times before. No, the main hook was the fact that Mera was pregnant with their daughter MJ, Mera Junior, and Arthur had to choose between his duty and his family. In fact, Mera had hoped to tell her husband the news when he came in to say that he had been charged with a mission by their god.

Arthur pleaded for the chance to let someone else go, or at least to delay the mission until MJ was born but Poseidon was adamant. Readers went on to see that even though someone might believe in (a) god, that doesn't mean that he won't get angry at him. It was his playing superhero that indirectly led to Arthur Junior's death in the first place; memories of his son and of the other dimension were still fresh for him. Ultimately, it was only Wonder Woman (who was by then herself a goddess and the granddaughter of a goddess) who managed to keep him from committing outright apostasy against Poseidon.

It was Mera, however, who convinced him to go; he didn't want to, saying that his place was at her side. Although she cried, she shook her head and placed his hand on her womb. He had to go in order to make the world a better place for their child.

It was there that Aquaman gradually shifted back to his classic green and orange uniform and shaved though he still kept a close cropped beard. His hand was still gone though the hook was replaced a hard water hand give him by Poseidon, not that Arthur was appreciative. "I spend more time caring about perfect strangers than my own family!"

It ended with a double climax where Aquaman, and Wonder Woman, fought the villain and Mera went into labor. Arthur of course won and with that Poseidon appeared before his champion to congratulate him and, more importantly, give him what he knew what he most wanted and most deserved. When Mera finally give birth to her daughter, she was not alone; Arthur was there to hold MJ in his arms.

Poseidon saw this and smiled. His champion had walked a hard road and he would continue on it, but for now he would let him have the happiness he had earned. Aquaman now knew that, however much he would want it to be so, his life would never be easy. He'd be proven right with old villains threatening him over and over and new ones like Davy Jones, the half man, half crab, half octopus Captain of the Flying Dutchman whose ship of the damned is built of the blood and bones of the evil dead and who prowled the sea looking for lost souls to lock away in Davy Jones Locker.

Aquaman would stand firm; he had to when he had so much to protect. As of 2014, his little MJ had grown into a toddler and there was no sign of any imminent demise. Tempest was happily married to Dolphin and with a child of their own; that family mostly appeared in spin off titles like _Sword of Atlantis _and _Aquaman and the Others_. Glimpses of the future showed the future Aqualad and Aquagirl as each other's first crush.

There was also the current Aqualad, Kaldur'ahm. He was created by Greg Weisman for the _Young Justice_ cartoon series before being incorporated into the regular comics. DC took advantage of its history to show that their Kalder'ahm was the boy whom Aquaman had cut off his hand to save. Kalder brought it up trying to apologize but Arthur stopped him; he did miss his old hand but it was nothing compared to a life. He smiled and said it was a price he'd been glad to pay in order to save the young fellow.

The king and his first apprentice proved good teachers to the boy. He needed one with his strange water manipulation he'd begun to develop. He also needed a home with his being an orphan. It wasn't just for altruism, however, that Aquaman kept an eye on the boy; by 2014, Kalder was the same age Arthur Junior would have been if he hadn't been killed.

It was thus the height of irony when he was revealed to be Black Manta's long lost son. The villain initially tried to claim the boy but after seeing Aqualad risk his life to save Aquaman from one of his own attacks, Manta knew he was beaten. He saw how happy and how loved the boy was Arthur and knew the life he'd be asking Kalder to live in becoming a fugitive. Manta and Aquaman ultimately met on neutral ground to discuss the boy's fate. For all his crimes, the villain did in fact love his son and for that love, renounced all claims on the boy. Kalder would stay with Aquaman, who agreed never to tell him of his true parentage.

Manta chuckled something to himself about how now he knew what it felt like before telling Arthur that while it would be to much to ever expect to be friends, that if they ever met again, that they not meet as enemies. Aquaman nodded. That they not be enemies was all he could promise.

"I took away your son by killing him and now you take away mine by saving him. A life for a life then. We're even."

As of summer 2014, Manta hasn't been seen since. As for Aquaman and his family, the future is yet unwritten.

**Author's Notes: -_-; Sorry I took so long guys! Its just... I've been working on another series of fics over on the Godzilla section (strongly recommend them) and there's only one of me to write them. Hopefully you can forgive my delays. Its worth saying that Aquaman is officially over now and it will now be time for Martian Manhunter. And with _that_ finished, it'll be time for... JUSTICE LEAGUE! At least, that's the idea. Would anyone prefer Captain Marvel before JLA to keep up the theme of myth and magic. If he comes after it would be part of a multiparter called "Legions of Superheroes" that will cover the DCU in general.**

**Now for the mailbag.**

**Lord Ultimas: Yeah, its Icthultu! I had the idea for the greatest sea monster and I used a Cthulu look-a-like early on to fill that role. When I remembered DC's official Cthulu parody it was only logical to use it. Thanks for the kind words and... I'll be writing my ideas for Manhunter soon enough buddy. ;-)**

**Wolvmbm: No specific plans for Mera sad to say though she would make a dandy Leaguer and I imagine that she at least has a working relationship the the team. As for Black Canary and Green Arrow, they'll likely be in "Justice League" or at least "Legions of Superheroes." Thank you for your kind words and... I hope you like Manta here. :-D**

**Everyone else: Thanks for reading and please drop a line. Love it, hate it, indifferent, just say so. :-)**

**That's all gang. See'ya in thirty!**

**(So to say, I don't literally mean thirty don't trust anything I say concerning when its going to come out. Its just a saying from the industry and I', trying to make a joke and... oh it'll be ready when its ready! -_-;)**


	25. Ch 18: A Manhunter from Mars

**You'd think Joseph Samachson and Joe Certa are from Mars with how nobody remembers them…**

**Chapter Eighteen: A Manhunter from Mars**

**Place: Offices of DC Comics, New York City**

**Year: 1986**

"J'onn J'onzz was first introduced in _Detective Comics_ where he played second string to Batman. He eventually headlined another anthology book, _House of Mystery_, before being out on a bus in a Justice League story where it was explained why he could be a Martian if the planet is now known to be dead. O'Neil had Commander Blanx kill all life on the planet and J'onn went to build Mars II alongside his people before he stood against them in the Earth/Mars War. His classic origin is good," said John Ostrander, "and there's no need to change it. So his classic origin updates as such.

"Long ago, on the planet Ma'alaca'andra (known as 'Mars' to Per'landra'ans), the people developed a unique culture based on the idea of dualism. Martians were, as a people, fascinated by duality and that was seen in how their gods were a pair of twins. It was not a contest of good and evil but rather of two complimenting halves. They were shape changers; one of whom forsook his shape changing to remain in one form always and the other who was in constant transformation. According to legend, the gods ultimately allowed for creation of the two races in the intent that they work together in harmony. Strife happens when the opposing forces are not in balance.

"This duality can be seen in other things. Martians have a private face (a spindly, craggy, cone head form) that was share only with family and deeply loved ones. They also had a public face (the humanoid, beetle-browed appearance) that they share with others. As telepaths, they constantly heard a background noise they called the Great Voice. By the same token, they were very earnest in their respect for each other's privacy, thus protocols were followed in just how telepathy was used. Another example is how they had strict laws concerning gender roles whilst they ascribed no meaning to gender."

A confused Perez asked "What? I don't get it. That's not paradox, that's contradiction."

Ostrander shrugged his shoulders. "Not really when you consider how they beget children. In the absolute sense, Martians have no biological sex since they can take any shape and they don't reproduce like we do. Instead, when a couple decides to 'settle down' and start a family, the two parents use their shape-shifting abilities to give away some of their own mass to create a baby. The newborn is genderless and is exposed to masculine and feminine roles as it grows up. Part of becoming an adult is deciding what gender roles it wants to fulfill and thus what gender it will shape change into as its default identity. When the cycle starts again, the gentle nurturing Martian who chose womanhood will seek out the big protective Martian who chose manhood and together make their child. Two halves, united."

Schwartz raised an eyebrow. "Now I _know_ this is from Mars."

"Different strokes for different folks," said Ostrander as he shrugged his shoulders. "But that's what happened to J'onn. 'He' was a gentle and quiet child who loved nothing more than to sit next to its mother and telepathically listen to her stories. Everyone took it for granted that the J'onzz family was going to have a daughter. Sha'sheen Jonzz sighed at the thought of J'onn becoming a girl so that she might dress her up and teach her to wear makeup. When J'onn entered its teen years decided to be male, everyone was surprised. True, his love of flowers and poetry would suggest a female identity but more than that, J'onzz wanted to know that those things would be kept safe and allowed to prosper for future generations. In his coming of age ceremony, he hugged his mother and said that he didn't want to fight but he'd become a Manhunter because he knew he had so much to protect.

"See, Martians don't educate their children as we do. They use their telepathy to pass down memories. Not every recollection is passed down—after all, only a lawyer needs to remember obscure court cases—but there are memories every Martian must have. It was those memories (those nightmares) that horrified a young J'onn and made him swear that he would do whatever it took to keep them from happening again. Those who do not know the past are doomed to repeat it.

"By this time in young J'onn's life, Mars was a cold and dry world with what life that remained clustering in the canals. Some places were virtual dead zones where only bacteria could survive. True the Martians survived and even thrived as best they could; it was no more austere than the traditional culture of say Tibetan people or Inuit. In the memories passed down to him, however, he saw a wet warm planet swaddled in clouds. He saw whole oceans of liquid water and whole continents covered in green. It was a world of life.

"At the time there were no Green or White Martians; the ancestors' true color had long since been forgotten. It was a world where you could judge book by its cover because a chosen form told you of Martian's allegiance. Here duality almost destroyed Martian civilization when two strains of thought came to occupy Martian thought.

"One group believed in living a venerable life through meditation and moral conviction. To those following this path, they chose to defend what is right above all else. It taught that success in any endeavor never justifies dishonorable deeds. It was a philosophy of high ideals and immutable laws of right and wrong. Its practitioners would become the Green Martians.

"The other held that inaction is the greatest injustice. It held it just to defend home and family no matter the cost. It accepted the idea that morals can change depending on the situation. Its practitioners tended to be outgoing, passionate, not ones for deep thought, and always the first into the fray. It was one of scrappy practicality and one that served the future Whites well.

"Still, the new races worked together well enough and, ideologues aside, most saw this disagreement of opinion as merely different ways of achieving the same goals. Green skin, white skin, it was comparable to Democrats vs. Republicans in modern American politics. Though of course, not even the craziest demagogue will wear a 'Vote Reagan' t-shirt 24 hours a day."

The writer spared a glance at Miller's clothing. "No offense Frank."

He smiled and gave Ostrander the finger. "None taken."

_Typical Miller_, he thought with a shrug. "As I was saying, Martian society began dividing when decided to colonize the solar system. Only Earth with its native sentient life was declared off limits. (That also means that if anyone wants to use our old stories of aliens from other planets in the solar system, you can just say that they took place in the small terraformed patch of an otherwise dead world.) The thing is that in spreading their number across the solar system, the Martians needed more people than they had.

"Remember, we humans can reproduce easily; we in fact have to take measures to prevent overpopulation. No so the Martians. A consequence of being so long lived and their shape changing physiology, they can only reproduce with great difficulty. The Martians instead created clones in order to increase their numbers and soon the various colonies had enough people to become viable.

"Here I'd like to stop and give a tip of the hat to Greg Potter. He wasn't able to come but I talked to him over the phone about this beforehand." Ostrander stopped to collect his thoughts.

"I am not the first one to try to reboot Manhunter. Potter wanted to do it too but when Miss Khan nixed it as being too radical a retcon Potter just changed the names and released his Manhunter story as _Jemm: Son of Saturn_. A Red alien Prince (J'onn) is forced to leave home world of Saturn (Mars) and come to Earth. He must go back to make peace between his people and the White Saturnians (White Martians). It's really good and it's an interesting idea as to where Manhunter could have gone. Of course, Jemm's not Manhunter nor even our guy's cousin but who's to say they're not connected somehow?

"We'll see their exact relationship later on but for now we go back the struggle between Green and White. It all came to a head on Saturn where they built a permanent base to mine the gas giant for hydrogen. Huge floating islands were built and each domed island reflected one aspect of Mars. The Martians lived well with their clones doing the menial work. After all, the Martians were best fit to lead, right?

"While that was true at first, the Saturnians quickly educated themselves and sought to advance themselves where they could. Amongst the Greens, this went well. Their philosophy of right above all meant not only that they had made their clones red so that they might develop their own identity but that those Reds were treated as friends. The Greens saw Saturnians as equal citizens and gave them equal opportunity.

"Among White Martians however who said my family and the hell with everyone else, they were against the project from the start. Even when they were forced, the Whites could only stand to look at their clones if they were made as pale as themselves. They grew increasingly reactionary and saw their creations as little more than talking animals at best. At worst White Saturnians were somewhere between talking tools and abominations that should all be destroyed." Ostrander frowned. "It's worth saying that the pale Martians did not see themselves as enslaving the clones because it's not slavery if you buy an animal and force it to work for you.

"It built up over decades with the place of the clones in Martian civilization splitting society in half; it was like how slavery polarized American society in the 1850s. By the end, meetings between Greens and Whites would likely end in fistfights and very often did. It came to an end when Whites decided that the clones, regardless of color, were more trouble than they were worth and decided on their liquidation. This very public genocide was the last straw before outright civil war.

"Now I admit that it would be easy to portray the Greens as good and the Whites as all bad and for the most part it certainly was. The fact is, however, that the Greens won the war by the logic of the rack; one nuclear strike against the Whites for every thousand clones killed in their concentration camps. That was what they believed, do right above all and damn the cost. It turned into a game of chicken but when it became clear the Green leader—hailed as a saint by his followers and as a demagogue fanatic by his enemies—really _was_ willing to destroy the world in order to save the clones, the Whites had no choice but to surrender. They had no desire to join the Greens in mutual suicide.

"As for the Saturnians in all this, the Red saw the Greens as their best friends and even kin. The White Saturnians, on the other hand, were another matter. Some had grown so afraid of their masters that they refused to be freed for fear that the masters would punish them. Others were, in fact, fighting for their masters. Imagine the son of the Grand Rabbi as a card carrying Nazi shoving other Jews into a furnace. Hey," gesticulated Ostrander to a shocked crowd of writers, "as long as it means you and your immediate family are safe, why not do any evil deed? _That_ is what they learned from their creators.

"On Saturn itself, some of the satellites/flying islands were destroyed and it was this debris from all this formed the initial rings of Saturn itself. The Martians finally left, but the Saturnians stayed on the remaining satellites, evolving down their own paths. Like the Green and White Martians, the Red and White Saturnians would be forever at war.

"As for Mars itself, by then it was too late. An armistice was declared and not a moment too soon; the decline of the planet's ability to sustain life was accelerating. The 'nuclear winter' caused by dozens of massive exchanges of missiles combined with the natural cooling and drying of the planet led to a deadly feedback effect. Over the course of a few centuries the oceans were salty lakes, and the highlands became almost entirely uninhabitable. Cities needed protective domes to shield them from sandstorms and icy winds, and each year the crop yields were smaller. What little water that remained was left was locked up in polar icecaps and underground aquifers. Oxygen was no longer being replaced and once fertile regions became desert. The planet was dying.

"Both Greens and Whites knew that they had to set aside their mutual loathing and work together to halt the death of their planet. They combined forces and designed a worldwide network of canals to draw water from the polar caps and carry it to the thirsty equatorial regions. Construction began in about 500 B.C., and work went on for centuries, interrupted by famines, more civil wars, and tremendous migrations of refugees. In the end, they fought their dying planet to a draw: the aqueducts and domed cities could support the Martian population, but there was no way to reverse the process and restore Mars to a more fertile state.

"Canal building aside, however, most Whites were not well appreciated by their cousins. The defeated Whites were ultimately exiled to the frigid poles where they guarded the polar icecaps, Mars' last source of water. They were allowed to immigrate south solely for menial labor. The victorious Greens, on the other hand, wandered the deserts enjoying the waters that flowed to them through the canals. They nevertheless knew that, as weak as their planet now was, they had to do something, anything, to prevent its death. Thus were formed the Manhunters.

"And yes, Manhunter is not just a codename that J'onn just came up with; on Mars it was his actual job that he continued doing when he arrived on Earth. Manhunters are a combination Martian police, army, firefighters-"

"Martian firemen?" interrupted Schwartz.

_Always the editor_, thought Ostrander. "Very well," he grumbled quietly as he got back on this train of thought. "The Manhunters were also _rescue workers_ as well as conflict mediators, etc. There was no direct Earth analogue to the Manhunters who did a little bit of everything in their policing of the Red Planet. They were meant to bridge the gap between the races and did that most admirably; they were often the only Greens that White's trusted.

"All this was passed down telepathically to J'onn. The young neuter was a terrible idealist and the moment 'he' saw all these memories, he knew what he had to do. He signed up the moment he made his gender decision and adopted a male body. The training was hard though, especially for someone whom everyone had taken for granted would become a woman. Regardless, young J'onn trained furiously, pushing his strength to the limit but more importantly refining his shape changing and telepathy far beyond the levels of his fellow recruits.

"It was there in Manhunter boot camp that he met and befriended his first white, Roh'kar M'orse; it was quite amicable as the drill sergeant made it clear he saw his recruits, regardless of color, as equally worthless. M'orse even thrived under the regimentation. The sarge' even reminded him of his father… He had a heavy burden on him; as the first polar dweller to try to make it as a Manhunter, not only was his family watching him but all pale Martians. If he failed the Greens would say that that just a White for you; even if he succeeded, close minded polar dwellers would see him as an Uncle Tom—to use a human phrase.

"M'orse of course knew that whining wouldn't solve the White Martian predicament, only action could and if that meant playing the game by Green rules, then so be it. J'onn and Roh'kar eventually made it through boot camp and gathered atop Olympus Mons were they swore the Manhunter's oath before the Tree of Blue Flame. It was a sacred object that was their world's primary source of light and warmth. Legend had it that their gods had planted it to give life to what would otherwise be a dead world and that it would burn only as long as Martians lived in peace with one another. It admittedly _had_ grown weaker in recent centuries. Regardless, many people there swore that it flared just a little bit brighter when they saw J'onn and Roh'kar jointly say, 'Once begun, to walk the path, to pursue the prey, to never turn aside, short of death, until justice is done.'"

Ostrander saw Perez raise his hand and nodded. "I was wondering John, what about Mars' role in the Wonder Woman books? I mean, if the Red Planet is your playground will I be able to have Ares daughter Eris/Duke of Deception have a base there?"

The Manhunter's scribe looked away "…Perez, you and I are going to have to agree to disagree on that. Mythology has no place in my story. The most will be that the Duke whispering war into the White Martians ears. I plan on this era being the Mars of 50s B-movies, a Mars of flying saucers and tripods. Only the campiest interpretations of Greek Myth could fit. Sorry."

Perez morosely nodded and Ostrander continued. "Happy days don't last however because Commander Ben Blanx rises to power among the Whites using every insult and oppression hurled at them from the Greens to cement his base on power. His slogan is simple: hate the Greens. After all, didn't they destroy the world for the sake of those clone freaks? Didn't the Greens exile them to the poles? Haven't the Greens humiliated them, driven them into poverty, and taught little White children to be ashamed of themselves? What did the Greens ever do for the Whites except take the water that should be the White Martians' by right!

"Blanx started out small but even though a lot of polar dwellers disagreed with him publically, they still stopped to hear what he had to say. Later when one officer was captured by the Manhunters and asked why he joined the demagogue, he explained why. 'Blanx was the only one who had the guts to say the hell with Greens!' Blanx ultimately became leader of the pale Martians and began rearming his people in defiance of longstanding peace treaties. It began when he nationalized all polar canals and threatened to cut off all the Green's water if they didn't immediately capitulate.

"The Greens, of course, faced death, drought, and famine if they didn't get the canals back and, not wanting to be the commander's slaves, declared war. There's no need to change what O'Neil said, J'onzz served as a soldier in the Green Martian army and served well. He was a Manhunter and hunted down the extremists who had plunged Mars into war. That's not to say that Blanx didn't have his own Manhunters; Roh'kar M'orse sided with his people and Blanx charged him with creating special operatives for the pale Martian cause. Both sides sent their tripods and saucers and every scientific macguffin the lab boys could think of. It was comparable to World War II for us or even bigger.

"J'onzz eventually became the Green's greatest soldier and a hero to the green cause. He was every mother's son, every boy's idol. He acknowledged that his fellow Greens made him a symbol of everything they cherished, kinda like a Martian Captain America, and accepted it. If his deeds and his stoic virtue could give his people hope then so be it but J'onzz never spent time in the lime light, not when there was was a war going on.

"It all came to a head when he was captured by Roh'kar and brought to Commander Blanx. While J'onzz, for all his heroics, was just one Martian, his capture was of inestimable propaganda value to the White cause. Blanx initially thought to put J'onzz to death but Roh'kar spoke for his old friend suggesting exile instead. J'onzz was respected by both Greens and Whites and the summary execution of such a Martian would discredit the Commander utterly.

"Coincidentally, Blanx was already considering invading Per'la'andra and taking the fertile world for his impoverished people. His research had shown him that it was unfit for conquest… but that it was fit for use as penal colony. Blanx had learned of one of the alien's attempts to contact Mars and waited until he tried contact again to get exact Earth coordinates. One flash of light later, J'onn is 140 million miles from home, trapped amongst alien monsters

"To be more precise, it's Denver, Colorado, and Earth scientist Dr. Saul Erdel had used his wormhole technology to open a portal. The year is 1954. Erdel knew from circumstantial evidence that Mars had liquid water and an oxygen atmosphere so he had hopes of contacting life; instead, he brought J'onn to Earth. He panicked and the rattle trap device he'd cobbled together from blenders and military surplus exploded, causing a fire. Though weakened by the flames, he remembered his role as a Manhunter when he saw Erdel hurt and rescued the scientist from the inferno. J'onn tried to comfort Erdel telepathically and keep him alive until help came but it was too late. Erdel died in his arms.

"Sensing humans approaching, J'onn made himself invisible and watched as they came to investigate. Upon observation the Martian was surprised that they fulfilled roles in society similar to the Manhunters. He hid from them and at first J'onz just lingered around the Erdel house trying to find something, anything, that could take him back home. When that failed and when he saw that Erdel's work had no ties to the greater scientific community, he realized that he was trapped on Earth indefinitely. He didn't know what else to do and so began invisibly following these 'police' he'd seen the first night and learned about something called… TV.

"As a telepath from a civilization of telepaths he believed in the importance of stories and how much a sincerely told story could tell you about the culture that thought it worth telling. After shape changing into a human, renaming himself John Jones, and 'acquiring' money by unclear means he rented a motel room and holed himself up day and night watching _Leave it to Beaver_, _I love Lucy_, and every TV show that graced the 50s. It was from all this that he learned something; stories produced by powerful individuals and meant to appeal to the broadest audience possible said that conformity was good and anything not confirming to the rigid ideal was bad.

"It's worth adding that the rare times he left the motel were when he went to see sci-fi b-movies with drooling bug eyed Martians. You'd think it would be an exercise in masochism if not for one thing; it confirmed his thoughts. Whether as classy as _War of the Worlds_ or as cheap as _It! The terror from beyond Space_, they all said that the other is bad and must be destroyed. 'A monster,' he said, 'a freak, a thing to be destroyed, that's all they would ever see me as.' If they would segregate themselves by race what would they do to someone not even from their world?

"No, he couldn't openly reveal himself not even as a metahuman; the dissolution of the JSA was still a recent event in 1954. He also knew he couldn't stay in his motel room forever. He decided that he'd make the best of a bad situation and live in disguise among the humans until he found a way to return home. He knew that to survive he'd need more of this 'money' in order to obtain goods and services. He also knew how he'd earn it.

"He had seen form TV and from his own invisible observations that there was good as well as evil on Earth. J'onzz remembered the policemen who rushed to the late Dr. Erdel's aide. He saw them and knew that if he couldn't fight evil in one way he could do so in another. He passed police academy with flying colors despite a few eccentricities and became the best police detective in Denver, Colorado, thus continuing his life's work of hunting down criminals and protecting innocent life.

"Once again all this happened in the 50s when Martian Manhunter's comics were first released. He served as the Terran Manhunter for years using his powers secretly and letting his fellow police officers think he just got lucky. Eventually he retired from both the Denver PD and from his John Jones identity to embark on a search for a way to return home. However, as he traveled, it becomes more an appreciation of his new home and we thus explore the new DCU between the retirement of the JSA and the new age of heroes. Manhunter travels the world, praying in Mecca, tasting Italian cuisine in Rome, attending Brazil's Carnival, and reading manga in the medium's motherland.

"He studies humanity and maintains the masquerade, only using his powers in secret lest panic ensue. J'onn sees that he is not alone. All over the world he sees metahumans hiding for fear that they'd be subject to persecution. Despite the attention we've given the US, America, ironically, has the easiest time of it with how people just have to register with the government. The Soviets decree that all metas have the patriotic duty to turn over their services—their freedom—to the state. Europe is a hotbed for anti-meta race groups and the Arab countries… no god but Allah and death to the idols. J'onzz saw that the hard way when he went to Mecca. Kid with laser fists was lynched, after of course his hands had been amputated.

"J'onzz knew that there was a chance that all this could change when he returned to America and saw Superboy arrive to play Jackie Robinson. He saw no reason not to assume the identity of John Jones again with a new police force, especially since that identity's original incarnation had never been famous to begin with. It had been his first human identity and his introduction to the world, so he had a particular fondness for it. As a cop, Jones was once again fighting crime and again using his powers covertly when necessary; now it was in the small town of Middleton, Colorado, under Police Chief Harding.

"It was at about this time when Superboy disappeared that Jones noticed something; people actually missed the Teen of Steel. All the Kryptonian's heroics actually had made a difference for metahumans everywhere. Yeah, it was hard going in some places but when superguy-X saves the world for the tenth time, you change your opinions about him. Jones knew that he'd be able to step out into the open when Super_man_ made his debut and immediately inspired a new age of heroes.

"The clincher was when Blanx invaded Earth. Its 1986 now and since Superman's generation began about ten years ago, that means J'onn's had been in exile for over twenty years by this point in our story, twenty years of wondering whatever happened to Mars. That was when Roh'kar M'orse made it to Middleton and met with J'onn to tell him that the war was over, Blanx had won. M'orse had also asked his commander to end J'onzz's exile and to everyone's surprise, the victorious warlord had agreed. It was not for compassion's sake, though, as he knew that fear alone couldn't hold the Greens in place. If the they saw their great hero acknowledge his legitimacy, the few remaining rebels would lose all theirs. In return J'onn would get a full pardon and a place in Blanx's regime. With his knowledge of Earth, he'd be invaluable in the Commander's long term plans for invasion. M'orse urged his old friend to take the offer. He knew the Green wouldn't like it but it was the best he could get and really wasn't so bad.

"Of course J'onn refused it and took Earth's cause. It was not just for the sake of ideals but his dream of going home was dead. From what he learned from M'orse, Blanx had not only taken over Mars but a great many Greens had converted to his evil philosophy. Why have high ideals when you can have immediate satisfaction? His old home was gone but he still had a new home that could yet be saved.

"The new generation had been around for just a few months when J'onn sent out his telepathic summons. The future Justice League, minus Green Lantern who hadn't gotten his ring yet (it was that early), gathered and were told by the Martian Manhunter that not only did Mars have life but that evil Martians had come to take over Earth as they had the Red Planet. As recorded in the original JLA comic… Hold while I go through this," paused Ostrander as he shuffled though a binder for an old comic. "Ah, here it is! _Justice League of America_ #144. There the superheroes won though the victory was bittersweet for J'onn.

"He asked Superman not to take him back to Mars because, and I quote, 'Oh no, Superman! Take them if you will but I wish to remain! Once I would have sold my soul to return home. Now, I see the truth—the truth that I should have seen years ago! The Mars I loved is gone! It is world of lost causes and dead dreams! Evil triumphed over good there!'"

Ignoring the few snickers at the overwrought dialogue, Ostrander added, "Now, J'onn was truly an exile because now he had no home left to go to. Now, he told the Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Aquaman, he was truly alone." Ostrander grinned mischievously. "Or was he?"

"The heroes sympathized with his desire to stay but others told J'onn that he should delay his debut for a few months while the anti-Martian hysteria calmed down. When that happened he could make come out with the whole hero community's backing. And at _that_, Superman, who in this continuity was conveniently trained by the JSA, suggested some kind of team or society.

"Of course, that's what happened when the Appelaxians invaded six months later and on schedule." Ostrander smiled. "I think I'll let J'onn himself wrap this up. He told the future JLA that Blanx had taken Mars but that 'here on Earth, the eternal struggle continues! Here, one such as I—and ones such as yourselves—can still tip the balance the right way! I love my adopted world! It needs a Manhunter from Mars!'"

**Author's Notes: I'm like Frankenstein's Monster. I don't die; I just need the occasional lightning bolt to wake up. ;-) My Godzilla stories are going slow but at least this is done and the outline for part two is finished. (And yes, after that Justice League at last) For everyone who's who still following, I want to thank you all. You're kind words keep me going. But for now let's check the mail bag, shall we?**

**SoW: Glad to have you on board and thanks for the line! BTW if you like bickering editors I hope you liked the scene with Frank Miller and John Ostrander. ("Nothing personal," said Ostrander. Miller smiles and gives him the finger. "None taken.") As for Damian Wayne, however, I already gave him a line. Check Chapter Part II. Its not much but I hope you like it; might expand it if I get any new ideas. Lastly, no major are OCs planned.**

**Sir Thames: As always, thank you for your kind words sir!**

**Wolvmbm: ... I honestly have no idea who wrote the Hulk in this alternate timeline...**

**Yeah... I don't agree with everything the real David did but he was the first writer to really tackle (among MANY other things) how the loss of his family might change the man. As for Manta, let's just say if there's a Justice League of America... then there must be a Legion of Doom!**

**As to the rest:**

**1) Shazam... yeah first JLA than Cap**

**2) Identity Crisis and Doc Light, not sure, I'm still working on an outline.**

**3) My JLA is Morrison's incarnation and Waid's Babel story is in the same vein. So... probably.**

**4) Heck yes! Teen Titans are definitely in there!**

**Well that's all and once again thanks to everyone who left a review and everyone for readiong. Don't know when the next part will be ready but hopefully soon. Until then, ****I bid you all a very nice day. ;-)**


	26. Ch 19: Alien Atlases

**Chapter Nineteen: Alien Atlases**

**Place: Offices of DC Comics, New York City**

**Year: 1986**

_Some ideas in this chapter such as Zook and New York City are courtesy of Lord Ultimas. Thank you!_

"The seeds of the League were thus planted," said Ostrander, "and when Earth was invaded by Appellaxian warriors, J'onn made his first public appearance alongside the other heroes. The Appelaxians thought to fight it out amongst themselves and that the winner be declared king of their home world. If Earth got destroyed in the process, then too bad. J'onzz defeated one of the aliens, a rock giant, and then he and the others caught up with Superman and Batman. Thus, the world was saved and came to know the Martian Manhunter as a founding member of the JLA.

"The people of Earth were understandably leery of him after having just suffered two alien invasions—maybe three with how Maggin said that Braniac's arrival and initial city shrinking was so early in the new age of heroes. Still, with all the good Superman and the others had done by that time, their word counted for something. If Superman himself was an alien, why not give Manhunter a chance?

"Now," paused Ostrander, "I won't say too much about the League itself that'll be… some guy's job. Ms Kahn, who is doing JLA?

She smiled. "That's a secret. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised."

He shrugged. "Yeah, okay. As for my part, I won't be saying too much about the League aside from how it became a family to J'onn. Remember, he came from a civilization where everyone had superpowers and used his own to make his world a better place. It was his life's purpose. Now, the Justice League gives him the chance to be a Manhunter again. There were times when he could even pretend that he was still on Mars before the days of Blanx.

"J'onzz' classic Silver Age role is thus secured and reaffirmed. The old _Detective Comics_ issues where he was back up and his _House of Mystery_ stories, where he headlined, are still on the books. He was still Middleton's top detective, John Jones. He still served under Captain Harding. He still had his Lois Lane, Lieutenant Diane Mead. He still had his sidekick/pet a happy go-lucky orange dwarf named Zook. He still had to face a poor-man's Luthor, Professor Hugo. He still had to face all sorts of alien threats that for some reason only ever went to Middleton, Colorado, and, after faking his death like he did the first time, he still had to destroy the Idol Head of Diabolu.

"As _House of Mystery_ showed, the U.S. government ultimately contacted J'onn and said they needed his help to investigate and combat the 'super-secret international criminal empire called V.U.L.T.U.R.E.' During his initial work with several F.B.I. agents, J'onn accidentally killed Marco Xavier, one of the mob's lieutenants. He saw an opportunity to infiltrate the gang from the inside so he then took Marco Xavier's idnetity. The writer, I forget his name exactly, but whoever he was, wrote good stories. He was eventually called out though on how he quickly took J'onn from being a laid back character to such a bleak, gallows humor guy.

"Now comes the big one by Denny O'Neil." Ostrander stopped and smirked. "How is it Denny that your stories keep cropping up in this?"

The Batman editor passed the buck. "Don't look at me, I got these assignments from Schwartz there!" The old man shrugged. "He wanted me to shake up old characters so I did."

Ostrander nodded. "Then folks Denny did his job because he shook up the Manhunter very well. He had Commander Blanx destroy the Tree of Blue Flame—the source of heat and energy on Mars—thereby killing all life on the Red Planet! Nobody knew why but all of a sudden he just decided to destroy the world and soon enough the blue flame began to inexorably cover Mars scouring the planet of life down to the bacterial level. By the time it was done Mars was just a barren rock floating through space.

"As soon as J'onzz learned of this he raced back to his home planet in a desperate attempt to save what was left of his world. The remaining Greens and even many Whites begged for his help; the Whites especially said that they were wrong to have ever listened to Blanx, that they'd do anything Manhunter asked just as long as he saved them. With help from the League J'onzz did; he evacuated his people on huge starships to a distant world they renamed Mars II.

"And of course there was one last battle with Blanx wherein the murderer said he had committed the act of genocide against his own people for no other reason than money. He had wanted to sell Mars to an alien mining company but could only legally do so if he were the last living Martian. Why not? After all, even the White Martians had grown soft and desirous of peace so why not kill them all?

"Blanx you see is the ultimate narcissist. He cares about himself and nobody else. He's not unnecessarily cruel in obtaining his goals but if the pursuit of his goals means he has to kill every man, woman, and child on the planet, then so be it. In fact, from the Commander's point of view, the Martian people deserved to die because they had proven unworthy of him; they would not listen to his calls for conquest and endless war. War was not a means to an end for Blanx but the end in and of itself." Ostrander laughed. "Perez, maybe Blanx has a touch of Ares in him after all!

"J'onzz won their single combat but for what? He fell to his knees and began sobbing." Ostrander pulled out _Justice League of America_ # 71 from his binder. "I think we can let J'onn speak for himself here. 'We were so close! After untold hundreds of centuries, we were about to find maturity… outgrow senseless strife… become all we might have been! And one individual, sick with the need for violence, deprived us of our destiny! And so my world ends.'

"J'onn bid his Justice League friends goodbye and left Earth; his place was with his people now. Years ago he abandoned Mars saying that it was dead to him with Blanx's victory and maybe that had been his mistake. No longer. Now he would stay by his people and aide them now in their time of greatest need. As before the Crisis, he goes with them to Mars II to oversee terraforming and colonization though now in our revised timeline the space ark's first stop was Saturn. The Martians had been in on-and-off contact with their siblings the Saturnians for centuries and some had even participated in their creator's civil war, though as a whole they had remained neutral.

"J'onn knew that the artificial continents built inside Saturn's atmosphere during the Martian Golden Age contained more than enough land and life to support both Saturnians and Martians." Ostrander sighed. "Or it _would_ have if not for the fact that the Red and White Saturnians had _**also**_ destroyed their world by means of civil war and they themselves were looking for a new home. The Reds were in the process of reestablishing an old Martian colony on one of Jupiter's moons; they could give their Green friends nothing with how they were barely surviving as it was. And Saturnians of both colors wanted nothing to do with the White Martians. All J'onn could get from them was the coordinates to an uninhabited world hospitable to Martian life.

"That's where we at DC left J'onn, rebuilding Mars II and working with his people." Ostrander snorted. "Of course _that_ doesn't last since we keep bringing J'onn to Earth on various Justice League adventures and that has a side effect of having the Martians trust him less and less. Does he care more about Earth than Mars II? As we all remember from the last big pre-Crisis Justice League story, yes.

"He returned again to warn them that a faction of Green Martians had fallen under the sway of a military dictator named the Marshal who saw Earth as their rightful home. Why should they go all the way across the galaxy trying to build up their new world when a fully habitable one rich with food and water was right next to their old one? 'Blanx was right.' That's what the Marshal said. Ironically, it was the Whites who wanted the least to do with him.

"It was really the biggest alien invasion we've seen yet," though it would be dwarfed by 1988/1989's _Invasion_, "and it had the UN Secretary General playing Eisenhower with Reagan and Gorbechov with their fingers on the button. The League just barely won and their satellite was destroyed. After it was all over, J'onn telepathically knew that he couldn't go home with his fellow Martians. With how he had warned them over and over, with how he had saved them from themselves, he was a living reminder to his fellow Greens that they had sold themselves to the devil.

"With no other home to go to, he has since stayed with the League and stayed in the roster when Aquaman reformed the team and based their new HQ in Detroit. When Aquaman left soon after that, J'onn was appointed team leader. That's where we stand now.

"I plan on using this and doing something with J'onn now that he's back on Earth, this time for good. When the obligatory miniseries retelling Manhunter's origin is done, I'll be using the _Manhunter_ ongoing series Ms. Kahn promised me to bring J'onn up to speed." He turned to his boss and nodded. "Thank you Ms. Kahn."

She waved it aside. "Don't mention it."

"Right," said the writer. "So now J'onn is shunted aside by his people and is exiled once again. Now knowing what else to do, he reaffirms his ties to the Justice League, the only family he has left. What'll happen with the Justice League I'll leave for… whoever it is that's going to write it but I can write about J'onn's personal feelings towards it. I can't stress this enough so again, J'onn grew up in a society of superpowered beings and so sees metahumanity as normal. Also, unlike his teammates, his life's work as a Manhunter was effectively identical to his role as a superhero; part policeman, part firefighter, part soldier. Fighting alongside a team of fellow superbeings to make the world a better place is the thing he knows best.

"J'onn moves into JLA headquarters—wherever the team's writer says it will be—and stays there full time. He's on every mission and with so much time on his hand volunteers for all the monitor duty. Unlike other heroes who go back to their civilian identities and relax after they've saved the day, J'onn just sits down and waits. His teammates start getting worried that he's turning into a workaholic; only Aquaman doesn't call him out of that.

"Soon enough the other Leaguers tell J'onn that he needs to take a break. They tell him that he maybe he should retake a secret identity and get some fresh air, talk to people who don't wear their underwear on the outside to keep from losing perspective. At that J'onn remembers how his walking among humans in disguise is what led him to love his adopted world. For a while he thinks of creating a new identity but he rejects in favor of going back to the beginning.

"John Jones was Manhunter's first human identity and, again, he's rather attached to it. He retakes it and makes his way his back to Middleton and reconnects with his old friends, Captain Harding and Diane Mead and the rest. The Middleton police department is glad to see him again after so many years… even if they are shocked since he was supposed to be dead. He said that he'd been cursed by the Idol Head of Diabolu—no lie. He then said that he had had to do some undercover work for the FBI—no lie. He continued saying that he had had to go out of the country because his family and most of his hometown had died in a terrible accident—again, no lie. He had helped the survivors rebuild but his old neighbors have since disowned him for X reason." Ostrander stopped and said, "I imagine that someone from a civilization of telepaths would find it difficult to lie outright.

"In any case, J'onzz is back and his old friends are glad to have him. A more quiet reception comes when Jones meets up with Zook. Yes I'm bringing back Zook. When writers had Manhunter start chasing after the Idol head of Diabolu, J'onn's sidekick just vanished and was never mentioned again." The man smiled. "A perfectly good character just waiting to be dusted off and revitalized. Isn't that what this meeting is all about?

"We learn that ever since his Officer John Jones' 'death' in the line of duty and the Manhunter's sudden disappearance, Zook has been keeping watch over Middleton and doing a good job of it too. He's stayed on out of a sense of duty and, to be honest, because he's still stuck in the Silver Age. Part of him still expects J'onn to come back any minute and bring him along to solve the next case or throw Diana Mead off the track. Can't let the girl know your secret identity, right?

"You can thus imagine what it's like when J'onn tracks Zook down and tries to say hi. Manhunter expected the lovable old sidekick, happy to see the old boss. What he got was a foul mouthed midget who was blood spitting mad.

"He screams, 'Where were you! I went through hell for you over and over and you just up and ditched me! What, I'm not good enough for you Mr. High and Mighty Martian Manunter? And now you have the gall to return and expect me to come crawling back and give you a hug… Aw gee Mr. J'onzz, Zook sure am happy to see you!'

"Manhunter is stunned by this and thoroughly embarrassed but does admit that he did something terrible to Zook. His sidekick had looked up to him and then one day he just disappeared without so much as a note to the 'man' who had served him so faithfully. For a few tense panels, they stand in silence before Zook finally asks his old friend if he has a place to stay. When J'onn says no, Zook offers to take him to his house for the night.

"Yes, he lives by himself and protects the city in secret, thus letting people think that Manhunter never left. Somebody has to be catching all those crooks and rescuing all those people, right? J'onn is rather touched by all this. He's also touched by Zook's relative poverty. He lives ninja turtle style in the sewers and survives on society's castoffs. Manhunter knows he did wrong and here sees a chance to do right.

"He leases some office space in downtown Middleton, goes into business as a private detective… and asks Zook to be his partner. After some initial doubts, Zook decides to give J'onn the chance to make amends. The short red alien thus becomes the tall green one's wisecracking partner and serves admirably in the field. He's nowhere near strong enough to fight the usual monster they might encounter or go against an armed and ready gang of thugs but he doesn't have to be. Zook is smart enough to use his powers of temperature control and telepathy as Manhunter's backup—the very definition of a sidekick. More than once will Zook save Manhunter's life. The dwarf will also develop some shape changing skills to pass for human when he has to come into the office.

"He's not the only one as John Jones also hires Diane Mead who has since pieced together the secret. And no, there's no romance between them; they're just good friends and good partners. She had since retired from the Middelton police in the years after J'onn vanished; maybe her sister had kids and needed the help or maybe her mom was sick and she volunteered to take care of her. Doesn't matter. What does matter is that she is free now and wants to get her old job back: easier said than done. The new Police Chief, Harding's retired by now, says that she'd been gone too long for her to just be _given_ her old job back. There'd be retraining and starting one rank lower than when she left.

"When John Jones offers her a position with P'erla'andra Investigations—and at a higher position and salary than she'd get with the police—she accepts immediately. Besides, she missed the big lug.

"The trio will often help the police in their investigations but they will also handle their own cases. Missing people, manhunts for escaped criminals, helping the police serve a warrant, the usual. More often than not, J'onn will use his agency as a cover for other, stranger cases." So much so that Jones's detective agency would be compared to the _X-Files_ both in universe and in real life throughout the 1990s. "In fact, P'erla'andra Investigations is where he goes after his daily round of superheroics to take notes and place them in the files.

"And yes, Middleton, Colorado, is glad to finally see Martian Manhunter back after so long an absence. They don't have him all to themselves though, far from it. See, something I noticed is that most all the superheroes we have are American. It makes sense since… we're all American and write for a mostly American audience. But it's kind of unfair that the other countries don't have their own superheroes and I'm betting J'onn thinks that too. Hey, he might have lived in the US but that doesn't make him a flag waving American citizen!

"On seeing how overly represented the US is in terms of superheroes and on seeing that some third world countries don't have so much as a single champion, Manhunter decides to do something about that . Across sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and various Asian nations people look up in the sky and see a green face. They hadn't been neglected, per se, by the League; Superman, for example has always conducted global patrols. But he's a white guy fighting for the American way whilst Manhunter is a neutral shade of green who pledges allegiance to the flags of the United Nations of Earth.

"Middleton, Colorado, aside, J'onn leaves Europe, America, Australia, and wealthier Asian nations alone. It's not that he has anything against him or that he wouldn't help if asked; it's just that he knows that their native supers can handle things. Whether it's evacuating some Filipinos from the path of a hurricane or reuniting lost Rwandan children with their families or performing search and rescue in the event of a Guatemalan earthquake, Manhunter's there. With the exception of you know who, he becomes the single most popular superhero in the entire southern hemisphere."

Ostrander laughed. "I can just see it now, the League goes to Kenya and Manhunter's fans ask who the heck these other guys even are!

"Seriously though, I plan on using this aspect of Manhunter to explore the DCU and meeting international heroes like Jack O'Lantern of Ireland and other Global Guardian heroes and new characters like… like Brazil's all female Carnival inspired Birds of Paradise team, or India's The Unclean—a team of underdog heroes who are all untouchables. Aside from that, Manhunter also takes it upon himself to organize and train local supers in the use of their powers."

"W-What!?" stammered Mark the copyboy in shock. The writers and artists stopped what they were doing to stare at him; among those stating was Jenette Khan. She frantically gestured for him to keep quiet, to not let anything slip from his mouth. "It's that…" _I can't say that that sounds like something I have planned._ He gathered his thoughts and cleared his voice. "… it's that, Mr. Ostrander, pardon the interruption but… are you going to do anything with Saul Erdel?

He raised an eyebrow at Khan and wondered what it had all been about. The he scowled. "Aside from naming teleportation gates Erdel gates as a nod, not really. Manhunter might meet the man's living relatives and help them out now and then but nothing major."

"Enough with Plaid," grumbled Schwartz. "Alright, Oz," the old editor had any number of nicknames, "I can see that J'onzz is loyal to Earth, yadda, yadda, yadda. But what about Mars? When he had to choose between siding with his people after they'd gone bad and protecting innocent Earthlings, he sided with Earth. Do you plan on anything special?

A puckish grin crossed Ostrander's face when he heard that. "I was just thinking about that! I don't know exactly when this will happen, it might not happen for several years…" If Ostrander only knew how right his words were; he in fact left the _Martian Manhunter_ series by the time the story he had in his mind finally took place. It was 2001's _Our Worlds at War_ where the Anti-Monitor finally returned… to Mars II's sorrow.

By that time, J'onn J'onzz had finally stopped being just the League's mascot and become a hero in his own right. He'd never sought the limelight but his real world fans were glad to see him getting the respect he deserved. There was also the issue of his fellow Martians. He had occasionally met up with them and sought to make peace. He was not welcome on Mars II but thanks to Roh'kar M'orse he was able to make at least brief visits. J'onzz old friend had since been elected leader of his fellow White Martians and worked tirelessly with Green leadership to ensure fair treatment for all. Such ideals extended to his daughter M'gann to whom he taught tolerance as one of the greatest virtues. It was the least he could do after helping, albeit unwittingly, a war criminal kill Mars… and with it his wife.

Roh'kar's daughter recognized her "Uncle J'onn" from her father's stories and knew that her father had owed his life more than once to the Green during their days as Manhunters. M'gann even took the appearance of a Green girl for her uncle's sake; J'onn appreciated that with how all his immediate family was also killed when Blanx destroyed the Tree of Blue Flame.

That was when the universe killer arrived to destroy Mars II. In the first Crisis, Mars II was in its disorganized relative infancy—and Anti-Monitor had no idea of the challenge the heroes would offer him. Now it was strong with superhuman armies that the now wary villain knew might pose a threat. It had to be eliminated.

With how they all possessed superpowers, the Martians could have driven Anti-Monitor's minions back with no trouble. However, the destroyer rightly guessed that just a little subterfuge would keep the paranoiac populace turned against itself. A few spies and rumor mongers made sure that the Greens and Whites spent more time fighting each other than they did their mutual enemy. When Anti-Monitor finally did destroy Mars II it was due in large part to Martian infighting.

J'onn J'onzz returned at M'orse's request in the hopes to uniting the two races against the common foe. After all, they were living proof that Green and White could get along, right? While the two "brothers" fought valiantly and served as point of view characters, their friendship was not enough to save Martian civilization. In fact, when J'onn revealed the Anti-Monitor's scheme for turning the races against each other, the monster merely gloated to both races that it was all true. He was right to gloat because even with that confession, even with their very survival at stake, many Martians still wouldn't set aside racial grudges and work together.

It was thus ironically the Anti-Monitor who, in the end, did more to improve Martian race relations than anyone else by exploding Mars II. When the few survivors saw their new home destroyed—for older folks, two planets dead in one lifetime—all Martians knew what they had to do. All past transgressions, real or imagined were forgotten because there was only one side now: the Martian side. The Sons of H'ronme'er were united at last and the Tree of Blue Flame reignited as proof of it.

In accordance with its legend, the Tree had grown ever weaker as Greens and Whites fought one another; during the Great War it had gone out as a result of being turned into an instrument of planetary genocide by Blanx. It was thought lost forever but a series of visions suggested otherwise and J'onn J'onzz went on a quest to recover his people's greatest treasure. After many adventures he finally found one tiny blue ember smoldering atop an asteroid in the Mars II asteroid belt. It only grew brighter the closer he brought it back to his reunited people. The Tree's recovery and new fire boosted Martian morale immeasurably… and gave M'orse the impetus for his decision.

Anti-Monitor was—is—by far the greatest threat to the DCU and had already destroyed whole universes but the heroes knew he could be beaten. When he finally was, it was due in large part to Roh'kar M'orse. He took with him as much of the fully reenergized Tree of Blue Flame's power as he could and launched a suicide run against the monster as it prepared to attack Earth. He gave orders for all forces to fall back lest they be destroyed in the fight between himself and the Anti-Monitor. J'onn J'onzz was the only one who disobeyed. He would not leave his brother behind! M'orse wept when he heard those words; deceit is nearly impossible amidst a race of telepaths. Regardless, the White Martian summoned a blast of Blue Flame and hurled J'onn to safety. Roh'kar's last words before he released all his energies in one climactic explosion? "Take care of M'gan for me."

While M'orse failed to defeat the Anti-Monitor, the Big Bang level explosion left the universe killer injured enough for the rest of the heroes to ultimately finish him. All across the universe—and across the restored multiverse—people erected statues to M'orse, none more so that the Martian people. In gratitude, the Justice League and the UN invited the Martians to come back to the Solar System and the Sons of H'ronmeer accepted the invitation. J'onn personally carried the new Tree of Blue Flame to the original place and led his people, Green and White in prayer.

That's not to say it was easy, far from it. Even with the Tree of Blue Flame pumping life giving energy back into the Red Planet, resurrecting the dead world was hard work. There was also racial friction. For example, even those Greens who were best friends with a White during the war were horrified to their daughters dating a White boy. And vice versa. White or Green it's the same message amongst too many people; I do believe in racial equality and I do respect them… as long as they stick to their kind and don't mix with ours. The road to brotherhood would be a difficult one with one step back for every two steps forwards but now, at least, they had a goal to work for.

Mars also sought normalize relations with Earth in the wake of the war and that meant exchanging ambassadors. A man of two worlds, J'onn J'onzz was Mars' only logical choice. True, he established himself in New York as a local superhero filling in for Wonder Woman with how she had left by then in order to live in Metropolis with her new husband, Superman. The main thrust of his activities, however, was to speak for Mars to the people of Earth and to speak for Earth to the people of Mars. He performed in this duty admirably.

Thus the 2000s saw the Martian Manhunter living in NYC with his old friend Diane Mead serving as embassy security and Zook as his personal assistant. One minute he was rescuing cats in trees and the next he was in suit and tie at the UN. Often fans would see interplanetary politics and J'onzz serving as a statesman, arbitrating disputes, negotiating treaties between the two worlds, and being the first to respond when someone from outside the solar system came in.

Most interesting of all was J'onzz' niece, M'gan M'orse whom J'onzz raised up as he had promised her father Roh'kar M'orse. She grew up shuttling between Mars and Earth as befit the adopted daughter of an interplanetary ambassador. As part of her new life she took as her default Earth form a green skinned, red haired human girl with slight Martian features. She'd also wear human clothes and play act the role of a stereotypical American teen, albeit ditzier than most. (She was prone to saying "Hello Megan!" and hitting herself on the head.) When Uncle J'onn asked where she'd gotten these new mannerisms, she said that she was just copying the human girls she saw on TV. J'onzz could only smile at that; Martians had begun monitoring Earth radio and television broadcasts with the establishment of friendly relations with Earth. The Alien Atlas thought he was the only one.

M'gann adapted well, too well, in fact, and J'onn eventually had to ask her if she was doing it to avoid confronting her grief. In one explosive issue that proved to in fact be the case as she raged against her father's shade for choosing to be the big hero and leaving her orphaned. She went on a rampage and though nobody was hurt and there was only minimal property damage, J'onn had to bring her in. He demanded an explanation and the sniveling M'gann mumbled something about reading minds of fathers and daughters she saw and that it wasn't fair and finally, after so many whimpers, that it was daddy daughter day.

Soon after her mother died, her father, Roh'kar, knew he had to do something special and declared a family holiday. He took her hiking that day and the next year he took her to a fancy restaurant. Every year it was some new experience; the last one was a pilgrimage to the Martian holy ground of Olympus Mons. They had returned to Mars II just a few months before Anti Monitor attacked. M'gann knew that her father was busy—especially since she had been born in such difficult times—but that no matter what he'd always be there, that he'd drop whatever work he was doing so that, even for just that one day, he'd be there just for her.

Not this time.

Her uncle knew that any punishments for telepathically spying on innocent people could wait and for now just consoled her. J'onn reminded M'gann that it was for her sake more than anything else that her father faced the last battle. He then showed her a telepathic message that Roh'kar had impressed on his psyche for just this eventuality. The last trace of the Martian entered his daughter's mind and comforted her. He didn't want her to mourn him forever; just the opposite. He had faced the Anti-Monitor not only in the hopes that she would survive but that she would live. He asked M'gann if she would forgive him but now that she held him tight she said that there was nothing to forgive… and that she loved him.

With that, M'gann found a measure of peace and enjoyed her special day. That weekend, John Jones paid a visit to Middleton and introduced his old friends to his niece/adopted daughter, Megan Morse. She giggled at how slack jawed Jones' police friends were when they saw her. They thought he merely invited them to the donut shop to talk about old times! Regardless, she enjoyed the little trip very much—Middleton really was a nice town—but more than that she enjoyed having a father once again.

M'gann knew that her place was on Earth with Uncle J'onn and now sought to follow in his footsteps as she had tried to do so her (first) father's. She watched TV and was amazed by all the costumed heroes she saw alongside her uncle. It all seemed so glamorous and exciting and it admittedly could be; she had also grown up listening to her father's Manhunter stories. Unfortunately, however, the best a White Martian girl her age and with her dream could traditionally hope for would be marrying one of Mars's champion. A female Manhunter was an oxymoron.

Such traditional gender roles made sense since female Martians were weaker than their male counterparts and would thus be a hindrance in hunting and fighting. Labor saving devices that would make such differences in strength irrelevant were never developed on Mars due, ironically, to how their superpowers made machinery unnecessary for so long. Yet at the same time those same superpowers meant that she was a "male" in terms of strength compared to humans and that amongst Earth's Manhunters (superheroes) she could indeed make the cut.

J'onn J'onzz was at first unsure of his niece's request; he, after all, was a product of a traditional Green household wherein gender roles were almost sacred. But then they were held so dearly because Greens _chose_ their genders. He agreed and trained M'gann himself for the things a young superheroine might face. She proved an eager student and soon enough two worlds caught their first glimpse of Miss Martian.

At first, the overly cheerful, ever chipper girl was just Manhunter's niece and she was admittedly happy to be in his shadow. She was his faithful sidekick and every teen hero's "adorkable" best friend. While M'gann never outgrew her bubbly personality she nevertheless went on to became one of the best Teen Titans and a founding member of Young Justice. Those were good times and she made friendships that lasted the rest of her life on those teams but even then she looked to something greater.

By 2013, the twenty-something _Ms._ Martian had taken over much of her uncle's mundane responsibilities and very admirably at that. There was even talk of her permanently taking her uncle's place on the Justice League in order to free more of his time for ambassadorial duties. That happened when she had subbed for him for a nearly a year after he was severely injured by a Norse Fire-Giant. Was she slightly intimidated? Maybe, it was the Justice League after all. Regardless she managed screw up her courage and proved herself worthy to fight alongside the world's greatest superheroes.

J'onn J'onzz wasn't quite ready for that. He liked being a superhero and it was agreed that however good Ms. Martian was he was still better. _Crisis on Infinite Earths_ had taught the Justice League the hard way that the Justice League could only afford to have the best in the world in its ranks. The infinitely lower civilian casualties in _Worlds at War_ proved that point…

Still in terms of making the world a better place and not just containing disasters, he did more good sitting behind a desk than he ever did wearing a bandolier and pirate boots. He also knew that M'gann was more than capable of taking his place; she was as good as he was at his age and in some respects, better. Thus, even after he made a full recovery he decided not to return to active duty. As of mid 2014, Manhunter has placed himself on reserve status with Ms. Martian actively serving on the League. He'll serve again, if the League ever needs him again. He doubts that will ever happen, though, not with M'gann there.

Nobody was prouder than J'onn and with that, the final peace came to him. Mars lived once again and both Greens and White lived in peace. He was embraced by both his homeworlds and had a family in Diane, Zook, and M'gann. Those were happy days… but they were all in the future, however.

Back in 1985 Ostrander finished up his last bit of his outline for Martian Manhunter and commented that he hoped to compare notes with the writer of Justice League… whoever he might be. "Wait a minute Mrs. Khan," he said. "You said that the League's writer would be a big surprise. Isn't it time now? I mean, we've gone through all the big heroes: JLA's the only thing left. So who is he?"

"That's me," replied the copyboy.

You could hear a pin drop in the conference room when he said that. Or to more precise the concept art he was shuffling and placing in a binder. Perez was the one who finally broke the silence. "Ms. Khan, are you actually serious? The barely old enough to shave intern? He's a copyboy! The only thing Plaid here ever wrote was one Superman story that wasn't even a real story! It was a… it was…"

"It was 'Peril of the Purloined Fortress,' _Action Comics_ #572 just last year. I remember. Oh," he added, "and its Waid, my name is Mark Waid. I'm pretty sure that I can do it."

One inker shook his head. "Listen, maybe my interest is just the pretty pictures but all the pictures in the world mean jack it its outlined by a hack."

Khan whimsically smiled. "Nice rhyme but you might remember him as the kid who sent letters for every comic book he read and he read a lot."

He could feel their eyes drilling into him and suddenly he felt his palms grow clammy. _Time to put up or shut up_, he thought. "I admit that up till now I've only written or edited for fanzines and have just one professional work under my belt but I've been working on ideas for the League. I submitted them to Ms. Khan and when she saw them she invited me to the meeting. I was supposed to take notes and adapt where need be to the new DC Universe we're creating."

Maggin smiled and remembered when he was Waid's age. It was only due to a preteen Jeph Loeb that he sold the story that got him into comics and didn't have to spend the rest of his life in law school. "You know gang it would be a real shame if Plaid here had a good idea and we didn't hear him out. Ah take a seat already Clark and show us what you got."

_The editor is screwing up my name? Now I know I'm part of the team!_ "Alright I'm passing around this binder and I want everyone to look at the concept art I've commissioned. My idea is that since the JLA and the JSA will be in the same continuity there will be changes but that we can use those changes. This is how it's going to work…"

**Author's Notes: Justice League is up next! If you've been paying attention you've been seeing "Clark Plaid" the copyboy here and there all this time. ;-) As to the title... Manhunter doesn't have that many nicknames or titles so I had to dig one up. -_-; Now, to the mailbag.**

**Sir Thames: As always thank you very much'**

**Wolvmbm: Did you honestly think I'd forget! I just saved her for this chapter. As to the other Justice Leaguers... well I'm planning to do Justice League next and I don't plan for every character to have one chapter. JLA origin and then a brief look at the other heroes. As for the Arrow... ust waint asnd see**

**Everyone else: Love it hate, please review. I'd like to know what you think!**


	27. Ch 20: The Greatest Forces of Good

**Chapter Twenty: "The Most Powerful Forces of Good ever Assembled!"**

Or at least that's what would have happened. Waid did, in fact, not become the regular writer for _Justice League_, not right away at least; instead the job went to Keith Giffen who created his (in)famous "bwa-ha-ha" Justice League. Waid did, however, write a story that gave Giffen a run for his money. It was called _JLA: Year One_.

On the surface it was a mere retelling of their origin story that tried so hard to fit in previous continuity that some cynics asked, why bother? The origin remained the same: seven young heroes join forces to fend off seven alien invaders and decide to stick together. It in fact opened mere days after the infant League's route of the Appellaxians and the first issue had the series' villains, a terrorist group named Locus, stealing one alien's body for mad science.

However, with how Waid had been there taking notes the entire meeting, it ensured there was also a depth of characterization not present in the Silver Age issues where these stories originally took place. Gardner Fox had all his characters act alike with no characterization at all. Under Waid it was different. The main draw was in fact not "see Superman punch this" it was seeing seven young men and women become heroes.

For example, Flash was the only normal guy. In contrast to all the others who were born with their powers, or who trained for years or who came from backgrounds where such things were commonplace, Barry Alan was an ordinary man who just got superpowers one day. In his mind at least, he was only pretending to be a superhero in contrast to the real ones: doubly so as he was partly inspired by reading comic books. As the real world's first Silver Age hero, Waid also used him as something of a viewpoint character.

Green Lantern was just the opposite. Hal Jordan was a reckless, hotshot fighter pilot who'd been chosen by the Guardians of the Universe and had traveled across the galaxy. It was a small wonder that he came to the League thinking he was their star player. Curiously, Waid took the hyperbole of his being completely honest and utterly without fear literally to show just how impossible telling painful truths all the time and refusing to lie even for otherwise good reasons made his life.

Martian Manhunter was the most dedicated to seeing it work. He wanted to undo the stigma of the Martian invasion and prove himself to his adopted world. J'onzz was repeatedly the target of verbal abuse from people who had yet to forget Blanx's assault. (It was later retconned that the Martian and Appellaxian invasions were linked to avoid too many coincidences.) With how his old world was lost to him and his new one had yet to embrace him, the League was his family now.

Wonder Woman, for her part, was new to Man's World and bordered on being a man hating straw feminist. It was understandable, though, with how men far weaker than she insisted on "protecting" her. Patriarchy, cable TV, fast food, politicians, the media… UGH! A fairy tale princess from a magic land inevitably would find the modern world a Gordian Knot so confusing that Athena would struggle to solve it. This was doubly so maintaining a secret identity… but that meant that she could be close to Steve right?

Despite a similar cultural milieu, Aquaman had a much easier time being a superhero partly due to his father being a surface man and having given him a normal childhood. Granted, spending half your childhood a hermit in a lighthouse and the other half training to be a superhero wasn't exactly normal but still… As a boy Arthur had always used his superhero career to advocate for more responsible use of the oceans. Now, he hoped that such a high profile team could take his advocacy for the ocean and, yes, Atlantis, to a new level.

Superman was the League's golden boy. He was by far the strongest but more importantly the most noble. He was also the most experienced and respected having already fought for truth and justice for thirteen years as Superboy. Or as Flash said, "When I was pizza face getting ready for my first date, this guy was going on missions to Alpha Centuari!" With all that and with how he had made a new generation of heroes possible, his fellow Leaguers all took it for granted that JSA's heir was their leader. He returned their trust in kind.

Batman, however, was a paranoid loner who saw his teammates as undisciplined overpowered amateurs. The only reason he even joined was his belief that the League's dumb muscle might prove useful under his leadership. His own words? "I can't wear a brightly-colored costume that makes me a target... and I can't afford to trust poorly-trained people who do." The one exception in Batman's mind was Superman who had already proven himself and, frankly, was the only one willing to put up with him.

They were set up in their new headquarters in Happy Harbor, Rhode Island, (courtesy of a mysterious backer) and, regardless of their differences, they managed to work together against all manner of mad scientists, mutants, and madmen. It all happened concurrently with the first few years of JLA with several classic stories taking place in the background or even being retold such as Starro's assault or Xotar the Weapons Master (1960's _Brave and the Bold_ #28 and #29). And yes, Snapper Carr was still the one who figured out how to defeat the star fish.

At first, all was good. Their first public appearance/press conference went smoothly and it was there that they got their name. One reporter asked if they were going to announce themselves as the new Justice Society; they admitted that "justice" was always good but that "league" had more of a punch than society. The star-spangled Wonder Woman, who'd grown up hearing about an Amazon who'd gone to Man's World in WWII and joined the early hero team, quickly added, "of America!"

They weren't the only heroes shown far from it. It was in fact, the story of the birth of the DCU. Only quasi-hero teams such as Sea Devils, Cave Carson, and Challengers of the Unknown were left in the wake of the JSA's disbanding. But now, after decades of metahumans having to hide their gifts or adventuring being discouraged, people could dare to be heroes again. The Doom Patrol, the JSA, the Metal Men, and all manner of independents made appearances.

Waid in fact made a point to bring in as many references as he could. The general escorting the body of a dead Appellaxian to the Secret Sanctuary? General Wade Eiling. The reporter asking questions at the press conference? Viki Vale. The politician/businessman that stuck up for the JLA? Max Lord.

That's not to say everything was going fine. That Superman had trained under the JSA was common knowledge and he often namedropped. ("And that," he told Barry Alan, "is how first Flash fought flying enemies.") For their part, the JSA was pleased by their protégé and in fact invited him to come to a party hosted by his mother in Smallville. He was asked to come in uniform, the reason being was that the JSA's other child was in attendance. Wonder Woman had never been trained by the Society but she was friends with Mala, an Amazon who'd been active in WWII and had joined them. Reporters were retroactively calling her the Golden Age Wonder Woman and the current one had decided to crash the party. As far as Diana knew, Mrs. Kent was just a friend of the JSA with no connection to Superman whatsoever.

On seeing the Amazon, Ma Kent urged her son to take her somewhere private. Diana was the only woman on the planet he could get frisky with without pulping into ground beef after all! Superman was aghast at that but she just laughed and said that she just wanted him to have someone to love… and someone with whom he could provide her with grandchildren. As for Wonder Woman she had fun at the little party but when she spoke with Mala she was shocked at the revelation that she had had an affair with a fellow JSAer.

Having grown up on a veritable paradise where nobody ever lied or betrayed anyone else's trust, such an act was unthinkable to her. Wonder Woman was still in her total innocent phase. As she later told Etta Candy she had grown up hearing stories about the JSA and had believed that even if the other males of Man's World were bad, that at least the men of the JSA were good. She had looked up to them as perfect white knights, at least as good as her sisters and perhaps more so. "And then you find out that they're only human," responded Etta.

Diana had no desire to respond. The main reason she had left Paradise Island was to be with Steve and have a happily ever after like Mala. Aphrodite's granddaughter mused that if Mala could betray her love, would the same happen to her? Was it happening already with how she was developing feelings for Flash? On Alan's part it was getting that he had to choose between Diana and his actual girlfriend Iris West.

That something wrong was happening was seen when Locus seemingly sent spies to observe the Justice League in their secret identities. It wasn't really a surprise, though. In the first and second issues, the Leaguers were all met by new acquaintances in their civilian identities and it all seemed fine. (Hint, hint.) Clark Kent met a new photographer at the _Planet_, Hal Jordan was interviewed by the new FAA inspector, etc. At one point they met up and confessed to shame at their betrayal of friends but assured each other that it was for the common good. The League ultimately learned that there was only one spy and that he was J'onn J'onzz. He'd been using his invisibility and shape changing to stalk them and create multiple identities for himself. When confronted with this information he was not allowed to speak and tried to run.

The League had more important things to worry about, however, when it learned that eight, not seven, meteors had crashed to Earth the day the Appellaxians attacked. They began the search and learned that Locus had found the eight alien and had allied with it. The terrorists' idea that life was cheap and belief in genocidal flesh shaping eugenics meant that they were the only humans that the invader would listen to. Why was seen when Locus initiated a series of doomsday machines that would destroy all life on Earth leaving them the only survivors thanks to their new bioengineered host bodies.

While Locus was defeated with the Manhunter's help, the League nevertheless had to ask him why. He said that as much as he wanted to believe they were good that he had seen enough of Earth to know that humans feared what they did not understand. Slavery, the Holocaust, anything that was other had no right to exist. Manhunter couldn't even show his face in public without some nut spitting on him!

The others didn't accept it and soon accusations started flying. It only got worse when Batman took a stand for J'onn by saying that he did the same thing—that the Dark Knight's assured the outraged Leaguers he only used public sources hardly helped. All his life Superman had dreamed of being a great hero and as a boy had caught glimpses of the future where he and others would be just that. He had befriended Batman and had cemented their friendship by revealing their secret identities. If that was the only thing to save the League, it was a small price to pay. In a blur, Superman changed into glasses, suit, and tie and said, "I'm Clark Kent, mild mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper."

And with that all the others knew that there was only one thing left to do.

"I'm Barry Alan, forensic scientist with the Central City Police Department."

"Lieutenant Diana Prince of the United States Air Force."

"Hal Jordan, test pilot for Ferris Aircraft."

"Bruce Wayne, head of Wayne Enterprises."

"In my free time, I am John Jones, a detective for the Middleton Police."

And then Arthur, "Aquaman," Curry joked, "And me without a secret identity!"

Such a thing was just in time because that's when the remaining Appellaxian called in his planet's entire population. Earth with its metahuman population might one day prove a threat to Appellax. More importantly, its defeat of the seven other nobles could not be allowed to stand! It had been a challenge for the League to defeat seven. Now it was thousands.

The League knew it couldn't win alone so after making a token fight, let themselves be captured and taken to the prison where the other heroes were held. That's when the second phase of Batman's plan took effect; drop the disguises, escape the bonds that had been tailor made for other Leaguers, and beat the bad guys. Superman then gathered his fellow heroes, from every team and every generation to say, "The enemy has taken our world. I say we take it all back!"

Each Leaguer led a hero strike force against the aliens to where they'd do the most good. Wonder Woman, Mala, and the Black Hawks liberated Washington from the Crystal Creatures. Aquaman led the Sea Devils, Animal Man, and the Challengers in under water combat against the Mercury Monsters outside Atlantis. Green Lantern along with the Hawks, Black Condor, and other aerial heroes fought Golden Rocs above the skies of Moscow. Kal-El, of course, showed that he wasn't called Superman for nothing; Batman's skill, Flash's speed, Manhunter's telepathy, they all did their part. The battle raged across the world but as the heroes captured Appellaxian after Appellaxian and placed them inside a holding pen set up by Dr. Fate the question was raised: then what?

That's when Vandal Savage, a villain who'd been allied with the invaders prior to their double cross, offered them a way out. He knew this could happen so he had used the information he'd gathered about them to create a telepathic death machine tuned to Appelaxian minds. He admitted that it was genocide in a box but when the lives of billions are at stake what's a little mass murder?

Superman refused saying that he'd fight forever if need be but that he wouldn't kill. Flash said that if they didn't push the button that there would be no forever. That was when J'onn activated the device but filtered the signal through his telepathy to make it excruciating but not lethal—except perhaps to himself. Batman told the nearest telepath to scan the location of homeworld from the nearest Appellaxian mind even as Aquaman added his telepathy to J'onn's and called for Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, and the rest to give their strength.

The enemy was driven out, cast away though the opened portal to defeat and so the Justice League saved the world that day. Among the first to congratulate them was Hawkman of the JSA who, with the erasure of the Golden Age Man of Steel, became the leader of the first generation of heroes and was consequently the first to be taken prisoner by the enemy. He had been in touch with his protégé Kal-El through the entire storyline and with the running gag of calling him Superboy. Now? "I want to congratulate you… Super_man_. All seven of you. On behalf of the Justice Society, consider the torch passed."

Waid's story thus ended happily with the liberation of Earth and the promise of a universe of wonder… and the shot of mystery backer, Oliver Queen, revealing that for some reason he had a Green Arrow costume in his office.

It's worth saying that in the wake of all the reboots and miniseries, the aforementioned Green Arrow was not immune. The Golden Age version was mostly left alone. 1943's _More Fun Comics_ #89 was still cannon with its origin story, "The Birth of the Battling Bowmen," minus of course the civilian name of Oliver Queen. There, a museum curator specializing in Native American cultures went looking for new artifacts after thieves stole his collection. He then found a young orphan who'd been raised by his late parents' Indian servant, Quoag. When the same thieves followed the archeologist and killed Quoag, the Golden Age Green Arrow and Speedy used their archery skills to fight the evil men who were soon conveniently crushed to death by a boulder. With Quoag's killers done away with, and having apparently no other family, the archeologist adopted the boy and the two embarked upon a career fighting crime.

Silver Age Green Arrow, AKA, Oliver Queen, was likewise left mostly unchanged. It was Mike Grell who presented readers with a new origin story in _Secret Origins_ vol. 2 #38 (1989) and in 1993's _Green Arrow: The Wonder Year_. Grell's Oliver Queen was a wealthy playboy with more money than he knew how to spend and was utterly miserable for it. He at one point threw a party on his personal yacht out of sheer boredom and after getting stone drunk fell over the side of the boat. He desperately swam to a nearby island the yacht had passed by only to realize that he was the only person there. Cobbling together a bow and arrow, he learned to survive on the island with bow and arrow. Though filthy, miserable, it was the happiest time in his life.

Queen was eventually rescued but he quickly found himself bored with the daily routine of city life. Yeah he discovered a talent for archery but so what? He searched for challenges like the ones he faced on the island but remained unsatisfied. He might have remained there, a "himbo" who spent his days shooting arrows at golf balls for no other reason than sheer boredom, if not for one costume party where he dressed up as a Robin Hood and captured a criminal who crashed the event. The criminal didn't recognize the costume and described his captor as "that big, green, arrow guy."

Queen thus became a superhero, thinking it would be fun. "God knows I haven't got anything better to do," he said. He even got himself a cave, a car, and a signal in imitation of a more famous vigilante as part of the game. When he got a sidekick, though, it was as much a nod to the original Arrow as it was aping the competition. "This kid was even raised by Indians! Now my Arrow schtick is complete!" he crowed.

(To be precise Roy Harper Junior had been two years old when his single father, forest ranger Roy Harper Sr., died saving a Navajo reservation from a fire. Roy Sr. had personally rescued Thomas Brave Bow, who took in the orphaned Roy and raised him in gratitude. Mr. Brave Bow encouraged his natural skill for archery and marksmanship and when he saw that his health was failing he arranged for Green Arrow to take the teenaged Roy under his wing.)

As for the mom of the family, writers took advantage of the Crisis to restore Black Canary original origin. In order to justify the artists' continually drawing a sexy babe in fishnets the writers said that the Dinah Lance who'd been appearing since the JSA's revival in the 1963's _Justice League of America_ #21 and 22 was the "original's" adult daughter, albeit with the mother's brain downloaded since the mother had been dying and the daughter had been exiled to limbo due to her Canary Cry as a baby by Johnny Thunder's T-Bolt who had then erased everyone's mind of the sad event. No really, it was _Justice League of America_ #220.

In 1987, publisher Jenette Khan deemed it rather unethical and even sexist. (Did DC really have to go through such absurd lengths just to keep drawing her in cheesecake poses?) It was decided that Canary really was that old regardless of her physical youth; she did have superpowers after all. Dinah Lance was thus a foxy lady in her physical forties from the forties, a "cougar" with a taste for little boys who played Robin Hood. Yes, her now being her proper age didn't keep DC from drawing Mother Canary in sexy poses. Her more modest daughter would be another matter however.

Interestingly, the fact that the Golden Age Green Arrow was kept on the books allowed a bit of a joke. The first Emerald Bowman was of course a museum curator so he'd have known and been friends with his era's Hawkman who was also museum curator, right? It was retroactively said that they were good friends and when Carter Hall met and befriended Katar Hol he sincerely hoped that he would be friends with the new Green Arrow.

The first Hawkman was terribly disappointed… but Hawk-fans certainly weren't with how the mythos evolved post-_Crisis_.

If anybody prospered by the 1986 meetings it was Hawkman and Hawkwoman. Tim Truman was put in charge of the Hawks, post-_Crisis,_ and knew that there was a problem. With the Crisis having merged all remaining Earths into one it now meant that the Golden Age's Carter and Shiera Hall were living on the same planet as the Silver Age's Katar Hol and Shayera Thal who went by the Earth names Carter and Shiera Hall. How did you explain that the two later heroes just happened to pick aliases that were the same as the real names of their predecessors? (And day jobs to boot!) How did you explain the coincidence that the JSA Carter Hall had invented an Nth-Metal belt and wing harness all on his own that was identical to the Nth-Metal belts and wing harnesses that the Hawkmen of Thanagar used when he'd never met a Thanagarian?

One was a reincarnated Egyptian prince and the other is an alien police officer. With Flash the two generations were different enough in their costumes and civilian identities to say that the second versions were inspired by the first… but you can't do that with Hawkman. Or couldn't you? As Truman revealed by means of flashbacks and such, that is exactly what happened.

The first Hawkman had originally been a Prince of ancient Egypt named Khufu and who had served alongside half brother Teth Adam (Black Adam) and Nabu (Dr. Fate). It happened then that they found a crashed Thanagarian ship powered by Nth-metal. Khufu recovered the metal and, on seeing its anti-gravity powers, crafted a set of wings and a helmet. It was a hawk helmet to honor falcon headed Horus and the wizard priest Nabu conveyed the true Horus' approval. What Khufu didn't know was that the Nth metal combined with Nabu's magic to create unique properties.

Two thousand years later (as first told in _Flash Comics_ #1), he was Carter Hall, a wealthy socialite and archeologist. After examining some Egyptian artifacts, he was assaulted by visions/memories of being an Egyptian prince named Khufu who had been murdered alongside his lover Shiera by an evil priest named Hath-Set. The murder weapon had been an Nth metal dagger. Khufu swore that he and Hath-Set would both walk the Earth again and that then it would be Hath-Set's turn to die. (Hath-Set never actually stayed dead despite Hawkman's best efforts—nobody ever really dies in comics.)

He became Hawkman and drew close to Sheira. It was a testament to their love that she was willing to prance about half naked in a ridiculous get up just for his sake. (And in a costume that wasn't even chic!) Such worries aside she became a great hero in her own right and a mother in time as well.

Truman also revealed that, early in Carter's career, Thanagar had sent out scouts to various worlds. One such agent was Paran Katar, father of the future Katar Hol, who met and befriended Carter Hall. He was intrigued by what human had done with Nth-metal and, after helping him become Hawkman, returned to Thanagar to establish the planet as a winged society, free of gravity's pull.

And then, in terms of internal chronology came his masterpiece, _Hawkworld_.

It opened with Katar Hol as a rich young man, barely out of his teens, years before he would come to Earth. His love and study of his planet's old legends however were seen as being rather silly and sentimental. He missed the days when his people Thanagarians made their own art and furniture and wine and weapons. Nowadays his people were content to simply live lives of decadence, enjoying the treasures their empire had plundered from other worlds. Readers saw this when Katar idealistically joined the police force of Thanagar, the wingmen, and he quickly realized that it was a hopelessly corrupt, brutal force.

Before _Crisis_, before _Hawkworld_, fans were always confused as to why Thanagar tried to invade Earth when up till then it had always been a utopia. That there had been some kind of "equalizer plague" that messed up people's minds had always seemed forced. Now it was different. If Thanagar had always been a world where the utopia was the cities where the master race literally lived in sky whilst the slaves, dregs, and rejects barely managed to survive in the underworld, then no wonder it tried invade Rann and Earth!

As for Katar, his commander, Byth Rok, manipulated Katar into killing his own father, Paran Katar, for secretly smuggling goods to the underworld and helping out its inhabitants. Katar was then exiled as punishment to a deserted island where he saw two alien monks working on a wing harness. In a fit of temporary insanity, he killed one to steal it and escape but then to his horror, he saw that they had natural wings and had been building the harness for him. The other monk, however, chose to forgive Katar for murdering his brother and invited the exile to re-examine his life and dedicate himself to becoming a better man.

When Katar finally returned to civilization he took his father's place as a leader in the underworld and after a few years befriended a female wingman named Shayera Thal. She was an aggressive, angry and volatile woman who felt a strange connection to the "peacock." Together, she and Katar went on to expose Byth's plot but the murderer escaped Katar's justice. _Hawkworld_ ended with Katar getting the winged helmet, a sign of honor, and showed him and Shayera hearing rumors of Byth escaping to a primitive world far away and that one day he and Byth would meet again.

_Hawkworld_ was one of the single greatest Hawkman stories ever told and certainly the most influential; DC even temporarily thought to reboot the character from ground zero. They didn't but one can imagine what would have happened if they had. Who'd have taken Katar's role in Justice League stories, Carter Hall? It could have been a perfect storm with how Roy Thomas' aborted _Last Days of the Justice Society_ would have exiled Golden Age Hawkman to literal Limbo mere months after the Crisis. If so, then who would have taken the Carter's place in between _Crisis_ and _Hawkworld_, an interim character made up just for that? It was the biggest continuity nightmare that never happened.

Instead Truman showed through miniseries and flashbacks, Katar and Shayera hunted Byth Rok to Earth and Midway City. They then absorbed knowledge of Earth through their "Absorbacon" and sought out Police Commissioner George Till's help, one cop to another. It was very fortunate that they did that because Till had links to the JSA. He called in favors and brought in one Carter and Sheira Hall.

Hall returned Paran Katar's favor and helped to set up his son as a superhero. "Their" son actually because the retiring Hall not only gave history buff Katar his day job as a museum curator, he gave the newcomer his Earth identity: Carter Hall Junior. As for Shayera, she was at first reluctant to turn in her uniform for a gaudy costume and refused to call herself Hawk_girl_ but she conceded that Earth would more readily accept an alien superhero than an alien lawman. (She insisted on calling herself Hawkwoman though.) It was thanks to the Golden Age Hawk's influence that Katar and Shayera turned in blasters for maces and adopted their Silver Age costumes.

It even led to enriching the Golden Age Hawkman. Before the Crisis, as revealed in _Infinity Inc_, his real son Hector Hall resented his father for spending more time with his godson, Northwind of Fetheira. After all this, Hector not only had to compete for his father's love with Northwind but Superboy and "Carter Hall Junior"! When your father is so indifferent to you that he creates his own perfect sons rather than care about you how could you not be angry?

It went to hell for the Thanagarians, though, when a series of calamities led to the near ruin of their world and left it ripe for a demagogue. With as bad as Thanagar was retroactively revealed to be post Crisis, it was comparable to the American Civil War's Confederacy turning into Nazi Germany. (Bad to worse.) The planet ultimately decided to invade Earth forcing Katar and Shayera to turn against their people which led to them exposing their secret identity. It also led to Katar being forced to deliberately kill for the first time in his life, a very traumatic experience for him.

As for Carter and Sheira, their son, Hector, by then the Nth-metal armored Silver Scarab, revealed his secret identity and this theirs on live TV.

As for the rest of the classic Leaguers, their histories remained mostly the same. Zatanna was still the Mistress of Magic and Red Tornado was still the whiny android the original continuity said he was. Ditto Elongated Man. The biggest revelation however was that _Super Friends_ was cannon.

It's worth saying that when E Nelson Bridwell wrote the _Super Friends_ comic, he always meant for it be cannon and repeatedly referenced mainstream DC comics. Yet while those stories were brought into continuity it was revealed that it had mostly been a PR stunt: save the world as the Justice League, do PSAs and charity events as the Super Friends. As for Marvin and Wendy, wannabe Snapper Cars from the cartoon, they were retroactively said to be Snapper's replacement as the JLA's mascots. With how far the League was removed from Happy Harbor in the wake of Snapper Carr's betrayal of the League to the Joker though, it only lasted for a few months (comic book time).

Zan and Jayna, the Wonder Twins, had more luck both in the real world and in-continuity. As per Bridwell's origin, they were orphans from Planet Exor whose superpowers branded them as freaks. They were sold to a local circus but were befriended by a clown who gave them Gleek the monkey as a pet. One thing led to another and they wound up on Earth where they were taken in by Professor Carter Nichols and trained in their powers by the Justice League. They have long since gone on to be independent and successful, if minor heroes.

By that time, the Justice League reached the Satellite Era, all retcons and revision were over and the comics (minus the multiverse) could be taken at face value in terms of cannon, however. That in turn meant one thing: the Justice League went on to become what the _Super Friends_ narrator said, the most powerful forces of good ever assembled. It was the iconic JLA everyone remembered from the era everyone remembered. The League was at its most powerful and its victories were always assured. Yes, it began with the heroes leaving Happy Harbor due to Snapper's betrayal but by then it had so outgrown its original purpose in the sheer grandeur of its adventures that it would have abandoned the old base anyways. It was this League that inspired the DCAU's cartoon series. It was this classic League that all subsequent versions measured themselves against. It was fair to say that this was the League's Golden Age

… It was too good to last…

It was all summed up in 1982's _JLA_ #200 where the Appellaxians whom the League had bested in the beginning returned for one final battle. They had not died not had merely gone dormant and forced the original Leaguers to do battle with their newer teammates. They, of course, broke free of this control and the combined League saved the day. Blogger Rob Kelley said "Its one of my all-time favorite comic books ever, and certainly my all-time favorite superhero comic, ever. […] To me, this book sums up everything that is fun about the world of superhero comics, and what drew me to the Justice League so passionately at such a young age-camaraderie, action, humor, plus a sense of enormous history. Not too long after this, the Crisis would take place, forever putting the DCU I knew and loved into the Past Tense."

He was right because by the 1985, the League had gone to hell in a handbasket. Green Arrow quit due to the League's refusal to get involved in matters like poverty and world hunger. Batman left to form his own group, the Outsiders, when the League wouldn't rescue industrialist Bruce Wayne's right hand and best friend, Lucius Fox, due to US foreign policy concerns. Wonder Woman renounced Paradise Island and her heritage after she found out that she'd been mind raped by her own mother in an attempt to make her forget about Steve Trevor—who died and then came to life and then died again before she met a Steve Trevor from another dimension. Green Lantern had just barely returned from a months long space mission to find out that the life he hoped to return was in shambles and he ultimately resigned from the Corps and with it the League in a doomed attempt to get back with Carol. Superman was the only one who was doing alright and that was the point; he was stagnating going through the exact same motions over and over. Flash was on trial for killing the man who killed Barry Alan's wife: "police brutality" at best, murder at worst (and a widower unbeknownst to all). Atom went to South America and just... disappeared. Aquaman was on the ropes due to his son's death—and his wife would leave him too. Hawkman, as said, was suffering PTSD due to killing a man. Lastly, Martian Manhunter was exiled from his people the Greens and this time it was forever.

Strangely, it was that same Martian invasion that led to dissolution of the League. Up till that point the League had been more of a social club than anything else with members cracking jokes as they saved the day. It was that devil may care attitude that led to Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash and Green Lantern (before his loss of power) to go on a random adventure when the Earth/Mars War happened. The League was thus left without its most powerful members and Earth very nearly enslaved. Aquaman said, rightly, that a full time League, regardless of power level, could have turned it aside without relying on a last minute save from the Manhunter. Thus he disbanded the JLA and created a new one in the hopes that it would be the Justice League the world deserved.

That did not quite happen though. Instead, "the Justice League of Detroit" as the new team was called replaced the world's greatest heroes with a band of undisciplined weaklings whose only claim to fame was that they tried real hard. Make no mistake Gypsy, Vibe, Steel, all had their hearts in the right place but either by accident or design it meant that the greatest threat that the DC Universe ever faced was met by the weakest JLA it ever had.

George Perez, author of _Crisis on Infinite Earths_, noted the irony by having the good Lex Luthor from Earth-Three send his messianic son to the safety of the JLA's satellite mere moments before his homeworld was destroyed by Anti-Monitor. Surely the League would be there to find the baby and save the day!

The boy would have died aboard the abandoned and nearly destroyed satellite if the Monitor hadn't found him. The Justice League had been made for challenges like these (the _Crisis'_ very name originated from the dimension spanning crossovers in their comic book!) but Manhunter's Justice League lite barely rated compared to the other teams seen in the Crisis—and without a central leadership the heroes were far less effective than round two when the Anti-Monitor returned.

The Detroit League was a joke and was said so in the issues after the Crisis. In the post-_Crisis_ timeline, people had even began to ask if there was even a need for a Justice League. Yes, when the new age of heroes began they were it but by then the Justice Society was back, their children Infinity Inc were active, Batman had his Outsiders, the Teen Titans had come into their own, Uncle Sam's Freedom Fighters were fighting for freedom, the Marvel Family was at work, and there were various adventurers such as the Forgotten Heroes and the Challengers of the Unknown. This only accelerated when a neurotic and guilt ridden Detroit League just fell apart. With so many fine hero teams out there who needed them?

Short answer: no one did.

Meanwhile, in the old Happy Harbor Sanctuary, the world's three greatest heroes gathered. A Man of Steel, a Dark Knight, and an Amazing Amazon. They would see to it that League would be rebuilt and this time, it would be much greater.

**Author's Notes: Today's date is 11/26/2014. Hi everyone and in case I don't get another chapter in before December 25th, here's an early Christmas present: Justice League!**

**The story goes from Year One to immediately after the Crisis, basically how League history might have turned out with the alternate universe I've made. Part II, which I am outlining, will go from the post-Crisis era to "modern day." As to how that will develop, something that always struck me is that the Satellite Era JLA disbanded at the worst possible time: the Crisis. I don't know if DC did it on purpose or if DC just took advantage of it but that's how it happened.**

**Thus instead of Superman, Batman, and the other great DC heroes facing the Anti-Monitor we saw them scattered and disorganized with the JLA, the team that should have saved the universe, as a team of weaklings that barely made a difference. Perhaps the single greatest incarnation of the Justice League, certainly the most fondly remembered, ceased to exist when the DC Universe needed it the most. Part II, as hinted will see the Trinity redress that imbalance. ;-)**

**Now time to dip into the lettercol!**

**Sit Thames: As always you kind words are a pleasure. ;-)**

**Wolvbm: You got to give some of that to Ultimas! A good part was his idea. As for Mark Waid's JLA... things turned out differently. To be precise, Giffen will make his JLI era League and then Grant Morrison and Mark Waid will come along. Its worth saying that I never thought of getting rid of the JLI. As silly as the bwa-ha-ha era League was, I always found its portrayal of politics interesting. I mean, something as big as the League would have to deal with world governments and have to have a budget and a staff. Simply, Part II will see the JLI with the Trinity to make it a League people would justly call the League and after that bring in the Morrison/Waid era**

**Lord Ultimas: Thank you LU. I was glad to have your help. :-)**

**Everyone else: Love it, hate it, leave me a line and I'll gladly respond.**

**That's all for now and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!**


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